Sir Rod Stewart and his son Sean have pleaded guilty to battery.
Sir Rod Stewart and son Sean plead guilty to battery
The pair were first arrested on New Year's Eve 2019 after an incident with a security guard at a Florida hotel and, almost two years later, the pair have entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges of simple battery.
According to DailyMail.com, Rod's attorney Guy Fronstin said in a statement: "No one was injured in the incident and a jury did not find Sir Rod Stewart guilty of the accusation. Instead, Sir Rod Stewart decided to enter a plea to avoid the inconvenience and unnecessary burden on the court and the public that a high profile proceeding would cause."
The plea agreement means Rod, 76, and Sean, 41, will avoid a trial.
They will not have to appear in court, do any jail time, pay fines or spend any time on probation, according to Fronstin.
Rod and Sean had been accused of assaulting security guard Jessie Dixon at Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach on December 31, 2019, when he refused to allow them in to a private party.
He had claimed that Rod punched him and Sean shoved him but a spokesperson for Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg, whose office prosecuted the case, said that Dixon agreed with the outcome of the case.
Police reports previously stated the 'Maggie May' hitmaker lashed out after the bouncer "touched him first".
Police officer Stephen Mancino wrote in a report obtained by The Sun newspaper: "R Stewart stated after being denied access, he told Dixon he just wanted to show his children the inside of the event for ten minutes, but Dixon still refused.
"He stated Dixon became argumentative with his family, which in turn caused them to become agitated.
"R Stewart stated Dixon had touched him first and he had struck Dixon in retaliation."
A witness alleged Rod "punched the guard in the chest" before his wife, Penny Lancaster, intervened to stop the fight.
Employee Kaylyn Viteri said: "I saw Rod punch the guard in the chest. Then the wife or sister got in the middle trying to stop them."
In his own statement Jessie claimed he had asked Sean to move out of the way, prompting him to "shove" the security guard before Rod got involved.
Jessie said: "I put the back of my hand on the guy in my face and told him to back up to create some space. That's when he shoved me yelling 'What the f*** you gonna do'. Then the male in the gold jacket (Rod) punched me in the left rib."
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