Morgan Wallen has a new court date after his arrest last month for allegedly throwing a chair from a six-story rooftop bar in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, and his attorney confirmed the country star will be present on that date.
Wallen, 30, waived his right to appear in court for his scheduled appearance on Friday morning (May 3). He was represented by his attorney, Worrick Robinson. Robinson confirmed on Friday that Wallen will be present for his newly-set court date on August 15. He said, via Nashville’s WSMV, that he has not “seen anything to suggest that at all, so I don’t have any proof that that is correct,” that Wallen laughed as he threw the chair from the rooftop bar, as previously reported by law enforcement. “The video will certainly speak for itself.”
Wallen was arrested and accused of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct after allegedly throwing the chair from the top of Eric Church’s newly-opened bar, Chief’s, on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, near the location where Wallen will open his own bar, he announced earlier this year. The incident happened shortly before 11 p.m. on Sunday, April 7. The chair reportedly landed a few feet away from two Metro Nashville Police Department officers who were standing on the sidewalk below. Witness statements and security camera footage reportedly confirmed Wallen’s actions that evening. Robinson said in a statement at that time that Wallen “was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. He is cooperating fully with authorities.”
David Raybin, a criminal defense attorney based in Nashville, told PEOPLE last month that Wallen could face up to six years in prison in connection with the incident, and odds are “very remote” that he would receive maximum sentence and serve sentences simultaneously: “I seriously doubt how he would get consecutive time. It’s based on prior record and extreme dangerousness of the offense: professional, criminal, sex offense. It’s a pretty limited category. Generally speaking, this would not be consecutive. [Wallen’s] is a serious offense — I don’t want to minimize it, but still, he probably would not be eligible for consecutive sentences. It’s probably a maximum of two years assuming he was not put on probation.” Raybin also noted in that interview that Wallen, whose case is unique because he’s a high-profile artist, could face a “harsher sanction” for nearly hitting two officers. “That chair could have fallen on them, and they could have been killed.” Read the full story here.
The hearing on Friday morning took place hours after Wallen took the stage at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, marking the first of three back-to-back nights at the venue.
“I didn't feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks,” Wallen said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, when he spoke out about the incident for the first time on April 19. “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”