Lil Nas X battery charges to be dropped if he completes mental health programme
Lil Nas X. (Getty/Emma McIntyre)
The battery charges against Lil Nas X are set to be dropped on the condition that he completes a mental health programme.
The ‘Old Town Road’ musician was arrested on 21 August last year after the Los Angeles Police Department was called to Ventura Boulevard at 05:30 in the morning, responding to reports of a man walking down the street in his underwear.
Lil Nas X faced three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest, which meant he could have faced up to five years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to all four charges last year.
At a 6 March hearing in California, Judge Alan Schneider granted Lil Nas X entry into the mental health diversion programme, and said that the charges against him would be dropped if he completes the programme and does not break the law again for the next two years.
Mental health diversion programmes identify vulnerable people in the criminal justice system, including those with mental health conditions, learning disabilities or substance abuse issues, and redirect them into appropriate treatment to improve health outcomes and limit the chance of reoffending.
Lil Nas X, real name Montero Lamar Hill, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder following his arrest at Venture Boulevard last year.
Speaking to Rolling Stone after the hearing, the rapper said: “I’m thankful. Just very thankful. It could have been much worse.”
Lawyer Christy O’Connor told BBC News that the judge said that Lil Nas X’s behaviour when he was arrested was “aberrant from his normal conduct”, and that he “appears to be doing very well”.
“When treated, he is much better off and society is much better off,” Judge Schneider reportedly added.
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