G-Unit member Tony Yayo has been cleared of all criminal charges related to beating up the 16-year-old son of business nemesis and Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond.

The ruling came down this morning (Feb. 14) in Manhattan Criminal Court and Yayo's defense attorney Scott Leemon released a statement today.

"I am pleased to announce that as of this morning, Tony Yayo is no longer facing any criminal charges relating to the incident that occurred last March," he said. "First, I would like to thank the District Attorney's office, who after further investigation, agreed with us that Tony Yayo should not be subject to any criminal liability for this incident."

"As I told you from the beginning, Tony Yayo did not hit anyone and would never do anything to harm a child," he added.

Yayo, (born Marvin Bernard) was charged in March with assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly smacking 14-year-old James Rosemond on a Manhattan street.

Yayo's dismissal in court today came after a surprising turn of events on January 10, when co-defendant Lowell Fletcher admitted to slapping the boy, saying Yayo actually tried to restrain him and pull him off the kid. This is the same story Fletcher said he told hip-hop police, Detectives Courtney Atkins and Kinely Williams, when he was interviewed before.

Fletcher is a long-time associate of Tony Yayo's who was identified in a lineup by Henchmen's son.

Yayo did end up copping to a violation today though, that his lawyer called "nothing more than a glorified traffic ticket." It won't even result in a criminal record for the rapper. "He only accepted this non-criminal resolution to avoid the unnecessary hardships of a trial on both sides."

"In sum, all that Yayo admitted to doing was getting out of the car and glaring at the victim," Leemon said. "Once he realized what Fletcher was doing, he went and grabbed Fletcher to pull him away from the victim."