Scott Weiland did not appear at a probation status hearing on Friday, causing a judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
Weiland's lawyer characterized the warrant as a technicality and called it standard practice when a hearing is rescheduled, noting that the hearing has been pushed back to Tuesday.
The hearing was supposed to determine whether the probation Weiland received from pleading no contest to driving under the influence would affect his probation from a prior drug-possession case.
Weiland's lawyer Anthony Brooklier said that because the Velvet Revolver singer had a full schedule of performing and traveling, he had requested two weeks ago that the court reschedule the hearing. Velvet Revolver played Sayreville, New Jersey, on Thursday night and are scheduled to headline the Rolling Rock Town Fair in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
"It makes it sound pejorative to say there's a warrant," Brooklier said. "You knew this guy would not even not show up for a hearing. The court agreed to put [the hearing] over [until Tuesday], and they issue a bench warrant and hold it. That's what it really amounts to."
Upon hearing of the DUI arrest in late October, the judge in the drug-possession case determined the DUI charge was a violation of Weiland's probation and revoked the singer's freedom, ordering him into detox. The lockdown aspect of his rehab was later amended, and he will have completed the terms of his sober-living program under that probation by the end of this month, at which point he is scheduled to have six more months of after-care counseling and testing.
The Los Angeles city attorney's office said it had anticipated that Weiland's new probation would run concurrently with his prior one.
?Jennifer Vineyard
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1489846/20040730/index.jhtml?headlines=true
Author