On Friday, singer Cee Lo Green avoided jail time by entering a no contest plea to one felony count of furnishing the drug Ecstasy (MDMA) to a woman who he had been in a relationship with for several months, while dining at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant in 2012.
His sentencing comes with three years of formal probation, 45 days or 360 hours of community service, and court orders to complete 52 Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings (equaling one year in length), according to the Associated Press and KTLA.
Green was told he could complete his community service through MusiCares Foundation, an affiliate of the organization that presents the Grammy Awards, notes the AP.
“This was never a sexual misconduct case against Cee Lo Green,” said criminal defense attorney Alison Treissl. The woman he had been dating told prosecutors that she had wound up naked in Cee Lo’s bed, but prosecutors rejected that charge and instead went forward with the felony drug charge, KTLA reports.
“It is my understanding that there were inconsistencies in her statement and it would have been very difficult to prove any sexual misconduct against Mr. Green,” Treissl told KTLA.
Cee Lo had reportedly been seeing the woman for several months and had flown her out to Los Angeles and Las Vegas to spend time with him on many occasions. Green’s attorney Blair Berk used the phrase “consensual relations” to describe the interaction between Cee Lo and the woman he was dating, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Even if a civil case were to be filed, “the fact that he plead no contest means that it cannot be used against him in” that scenario either Treissl said.
Cee Lo (born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway) is known for several top billboard hit songs such as Forget You (originally F**k You) On Friday, that is reportedly precisely what he wanted to do with the case brought against him and put it all behind him.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.