While still maintaining his innocence, singer Cee Lo Green pleaded no contest today to a felony charge of furnishing Ecstasy to a woman at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant in 2012.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Young immediately sentenced the 39-year-old entertainer — whose real name is Thomas DeCarlo Callaway — to three years probation and ordered him to perform 360 hours of community service, attend 52 Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous classes or the equivalent and to register as a controlled substance offender.
One of his attorneys, Blair Berk, said Green was pleading no contest under a section of the law that allows him to maintain his innocence but put the case behind him.
Green entered his plea on the day a hearing was set to begin to determine if there was sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial on the felony count, which was filed last October.
Prosecutors said Green gave Ecstasy to a 33-year-old woman while the two were dining at a Los Angeles restaurant some time between July 13 and July 14, 2012. Prosecutors declined to file a charge of rape of an intoxicated person, citing insufficient evidence.
Green is due back in court March 2 for a progress report hearing.
