STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Singer Pleads Not Guilty To Drug Charges, Offers To Go To Rehab

June 2, 2003

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman Scott Weiland pleaded not guilty to charges of drug possession Monday (June 2),and offered to put himself in rehab before his next court date, according to MTV.com.

Looking somber in a black suit, Weiland spoke little during his arraignment at the Burbank division of Los Angeles Superior Court, other than to say, "yes, your honor" and "thank you, your honor." He volunteered to attend a rehab program before his next court date, which Judge Chesley McKay set for July 11.

Outside the courtroom, Weiland told reporters, "It went great today."

Weiland faces up to a year in county jail if convicted. A spokesperson for the district attorney's office told MTV that his prior convictions on drug charges in California could "more or less preclude him from being diverted" into a drug program to avoid jail time.

Weiland, who recently cut two songs with three former members of GUNS N' ROSES and was widely believed to be the top candidate to land the lead singer slot in what's currently dubbed "THE PROJECT," has been arrested on drug charges twice before in California, in 1995 and 1997. He was also busted in New York in 1998, and the next year served prison time in Los Angeles after a heroin overdose that a judge found violated his probation. After his release, Weiland tried to go clean, but was arrested in Las Vegas in 2001 after an argument with his wife Mary over a prescription turned into a domestic violence charge. The Weilands filed for divorce last September.

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