Vince Neil has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an April incident in which he pulled a woman to the ground.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Neil’s attorney, David Chesnoff, entered the plea for the Motley Crue singer, resulting in a trial date for Sept. 19. “I ask people not to prejudge situations until all the facts come in,” Chesnoff told reporters following today’s hearing.
Neil allegedly pulled Kelly Guerrero to the ground by her hair at Las Vegas’ Aria hotel on April 7, after the woman asked actor Nicolas Cage, who was with Neil at the time, for an autograph, according to a police statement.
Cage took Neil outside near the hotel’s valet area to calm him down, which turned into a brief scuffle that was captured on cellphone. In the video, Cage grabs Neil and says to him, “Stop this s— now!”
Since being charged by the Las Vegas Police earlier this month, Guerrero, a registered nurse, has sued Neil for $75,000, claiming that she suffered “substantial medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.” She was with her 14-year-old son at the time of the assault. In the lawsuit, she says she told Cage that her son was a fan, and that “Neil attacked Kelly without warning or provocation. Neil grabbed Kelly’s hair from behind, yanking her down to the pavement on her back.”
If Neil is convicted of the misdemeanor battery charge, he could face six months in jail. This isn’t Neil’s first brush with the law. He has a long list of arrests on various charges, including other batteries and assaults, a couple of DUIs and, most famously, an accident in which a drunken Neil was behind the wheel of a car that killed Hanoi Rocks’ drummer in 1984.
