Looks like the case may be resolved sooner rather than later.
Morgan Wallen has obviously been in some hot water for much of the year after he was arrested back in April for allegedly throwing a chair off the rooftop of Eric Church’s downtown Nashville bar, Chief’s.
The country music superstar was arrested and charged with three counts of felony reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct, and has been out on bond ever since.
Morgan was originally set to appear in court tomorrow for the first time since his arrest, after his appearance was waived at his first hearing back in May. But the court date was abruptly changed to Tuesday earlier this week, and the case was dismissed to be presented to a grand jury for indictment.
But now, it appears that a hearing is scheduled for tomorrow after all – and his charges have been reduced to misdemeanors.
Morgan is now facing three misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, as well as one misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
According to the Davidson County Criminal Court, Morgan is scheduled to appear tomorrow in front of Judge Cynthia Chappell for what is listed as a “discussion” hearing, which likely means he will be pleading guilty to one or all of the charges tomorrow.
Reckless endangerment is a Class A misdemeanor in Tennessee, with a maximum punishment of up to 11 months and 29 days in jail on each count. That means that, if Morgan does indeed plead guilty to all three charges, he could theoretically face up to three years behind bars if the judge were to run the sentences consecutively.
But the chances of that happening are miniscule at this point, as it appears Morgan and his attorney, Worrick Robinson, have worked out a plea agreement with prosecutors in exchange for reducing the charges.
Of course it’s still possible that the singer could be entering a not guilty plea, though that seems unlikely considering the hearing was requested by his own attorney.
I guess we’ll know tomorrow whether he’s actually going to plead to the charges, and if so, whether he’ll serve any time behind bars at all or whether he’s just going to spend some time on probation. Either way, it appears likely that Morgan is going to be able to go into 2025 with his legal issues resolved.
For his part, the singer has largely been silent on the charges (probably at the advice of his attorney), other than a statement issued shortly after his arrest:
“I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.
I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe. Regarding my tour, there will be no change. -MW”
Since then, he’s spent the summer and fall on his record-breaking One Night At A Time tour, which wrapped up last month. And Morgan was also noticeably absent from the CMA Awards last month, where he won Entertainer of the Year – and has yet to acknowledge the award.
Guess he’s got more important things to worry about. (To be fair, pretty much anything is more important than the CMA Awards).