The rapper's attorney argued that the rapper had a clean record and should be given a pretrial diversion instead of prison time.
- December 12, 2015
AceShowbiz -
No days behind the bars for Nelly. The rapper escaped jail time after he appeared in court for drug charges in Putnam County on Friday, December 11.
Nelly, real name Cornell Haynes, entered guilty plea at the Tennessee court to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. According to TMZ, the judge in charge of his case ordered pre-trial diversion when Nelly's lawyer presented the rapper's clean record. The judge agreed that if Nelly stayed out of trouble for up a year, the charges would be wiped from his record.
Nelly's tour bus was pulled over in Cookeville in April on Interstate 40 for not having a U.S. Department of Transportation and International Fuel Tax Association sticker on the vehicle. The trooper then smelled marijuana coming from inside the bus and searched the vehicle.
Nelly and convicted felon Brian Jones, who was inside the bus as well, were arrested and charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Nelly was taken to Putnam County Jail and later released on a $10,000 bond.
The arrest had cost him a concert at Missouri University which was scheduled to take place a week after that. Nelly's lawyer Scott Rosenblum argued at that time, "We are extremely confident that when the facts come out, Nelly will not be associated with the contraband that was allegedly discovered."
