Legal Ticker: Kid Rock’s Waffle House Arraignment Postponed, The Shins’ Crandall Allegedly Roughs Up “Top Model” Girlfriend, and More
Most of the time, rock stars are above the law, though the long arm of justice occasionally brushes up against them. To wit:
• Kid Rock’s scheduled arraignment for his part in the infamous Waffle House smackdown has been postponed. Rock was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery back in October after he and his entourage fought a man in an Atlanta Waffle House. The arraignment is now scheduled for February 4th, though DeKalb County authorities hint they may not have enough evidence to pursue a case.
• The Shins’ Marty Crandall and his (now-ex) girlfriend Elyse Sewell (of America’s Next Top Model fame) were arrested in Sacramento, California, each for domestic abuse against the other. According to a now-locked post on Sewell’s LiveJournal blog, the model says “My ex-boyfriend got shitfaced and roughed me up in a Sacramento hotel. I escaped from the room through a blitzkrieg of violence and talked to hotel security, who called the fuzz.” According to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Dept. website, Crandall was released from custody yesterday, and is expected in court later this week.
• Judge James Early, the arbiter presiding over James Brown’s contested fortune, will not step down from the trial, despite the demands of two of the Brown estate’s former trustees who claim Early forced them to leave the trustee board. Early defended himself, saying, “I would never force anyone to do anything. That’s not me.”
• Amy Winehouse will likely not face charges for allegedly providing her husband Blake Fielder-Civil with money that was meant to bribe a witness to an incident involving Fielder-Civil where he was accused of assault. Fielder-Civil remains in prison on “perverting the course of justice” charges, while Winehouse is partying in the Caribbean with an ex-boyfriend
• Former American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra was sentenced to one year in rehab after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct and obstruction of a Tampa officer. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who worked with Sierra as part of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab show, told the court that the “low level” of treatment she received on the show wasn’t enough to help her addiction, and thus recommended a real stint in rehab.