Poor Cee Lo Green has dodged a bullet, if you call losing out on your cherry deal of a TV show and having to do three years probation “dodging a bullet”. But the fact is, the man could’ve gone to jail for four years over the felony drug charge he was facing.
The whole situation stems from an evening when Cee Lo allegedly gave a woman some Ecstasy during dinner, then later had sex with her. So that got him a felony drug charge, and talk of a rape charge. In the end, the rape charge was dropped, since prosecutors acknowledged that the sex was consensual. But the drug charge was sticking.
Cee Lo initially entered a not guilty plea in the case, but a preliminary hearing was scheduled so prosecutors could present their evidence to show they had a case that could go to trial. Just before the hearing, Cee Lo cut himself a deal.
The singer entered a plea of “no contest”. A no contest plea basically acknowledges that the prosecution may have enough to take you down, but does not admit guilt. And in this case it was a special plea, which prevented the plea from being able to be used against him in any future civil cases. Perhaps Cee Lo expects a lawsuit from the woman over the incident?
Superior Court Judge Mark Young accepted the plea deal and sentenced Cee Lo to three years of formal probation and 45 days of community service.
During the entire mess, Cee Lo ended up giving up his chair as a judge on The Voice, so he does have that loss. You have to wonder if one night of nookie was worth a felony charge, losing a sweet gig, multiple visits to court, a potential lawsuit, and four years of paper to serve.