A felony drugs charge against Nelly has been dismissed.
Earlier this year, Nelly's tour bus was pulled over in Tennessee and the cops proceeded to find guns, marijuana, and a substance that was originally thought to be meth. The St. Louis rapper was arrested and charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. A weapons charge was picked up by another member of Nelly's touring team.
Nelly appeared in court in Putnam County yesterday (Dec. 11), and the judge was convinced to drop the most serious charged against him, felony possession of drugs. And it seems the charge was dismissed because, upon further inspection, authorities discovered that the rocks they originally found were not, in fact, crystal meth.
"After we investigated the case fully and sent that substance to the Tennessee Crime Lab, it was discovered that it was not methamphetamine, and in fact the maximum charge that Mr. Haynes was guilty of were class A misdemeanors," said Bryant Dunaway, Putnam County District Attorney.
Nelly's lawyer seemed ecstatic with the decision: "This is exactly what we were hoping for, and I think it was a very fair disposition. I have no doubt whatsoever that after this year's time, after the diversionary program is completed, there'll be nothing on Mr. Haynes' record."
The D.A. reports that Nelly's crewmate was also was able to get his guns charge dropped because he had no prior criminal history.
Shortly after the decision, the blog Baller Alert posted on its Instagram that Nelly had pled guilty to drug charges, which caused the rapper to respond angrily via his own Instagram. He explained what really happened and asked why his good deeds are never reported, such as when he recently "gave over 100 diplomas to graduates" from his own school, the Ex'treme Institute at Vatterott College.
[via NewsChannel5]