Lil Nas X pleads not guilty to four felony charges following arrest in LA for battery of a police officer
Frederic J. Brown

Lil Nas X pleads not guilty to four felony charges following arrest in LA for battery of a police officer

Lil Nas X (real name Montero Hill) has pleaded not guilty to four felony charges during an arraignment hearing in Van Nuys on Monday morning. 

The rapper was arrested early Thursday morning when he was found wandering down the Studio City area on Los Angeles's Ventura Boulevard at 5:50am, wearing only his underwear and cowboy boots.

The Atlanta native, who spent the weekend at the Valley Jail in Van Nuys, is facing three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest. His bail was set at $75,000, and he has been ordered to sign up for a drug treatment program or attend four Narcotics Anonymous meetings a week as a condition for his release, reports NBC News

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hill’s lawyer, Drew Findling, said that he expected Hill to be out of jail later that day after paying the bail. Indeed, he was released in his jail clothes that same Monday in the afternoon. Hill has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for September 15.

“He’s never been in trouble for a split second in his existence, we’re not going to let one little event change the trajectory of his amazing life,” Findling said. “There’s no way to have a sense of what happened this immediately, but we’re going to look into it and do the right thing.”

On the claims made on whether this was a substance, medical, or emotional issue, Findling says, “there’s no way for us to know right now.” Another lawyer on Hill’s defense team, Christy O’Connor, told the court on Monday that the rapper has no prior criminal history, calling the incident “an aberration in [Hill’s] life”.

Hill’s father, Robert Stafford, gave a brief update and shared that the two-time Grammy-winning artist is "very remorseful for what happened.” "He’s going to get the help that he needs, and just keep him in your prayers," Stafford said. "Give him the same grace and mercy that God gives everyone.”

What do you think?

Show comments / Leave a comment