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Rush Guitarist: See You in Court
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by Charlie Amter
[/font][font=verdana,helvetica]Mar 10, 2005, 6:05 PM PT
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Time to break out the bad "Rush to judgment" puns.
Alex Lifeson, guitarist for legendary Canadian prog-rock group Rush, now has a date to answer for some seriously un-Canadian-like behavior.
Lifeson, whose real name is Alex Zivojinovich, is set to stand trial May 16 in Naples, Florida, on two felony assault charges stemming from a New Year's party gone way too wild.
Prosecutors allege the 51-year-old rocker pushed a sheriff's deputy down the stairs of the Naples Ritz-Carlton hotel and spat blood at another in the early hours of 2004.
The guitarist was arrested and suffered a broken nose in the fracas, which also involved his 33-year-old son, Justin.
A part-time resident of Naples, Alex Lifeson was initially booked on six charges, four of which were felonies that could have netted the fret-man 30 years in prison if found guilty. However, after an investigation, the state attorney's office reduced the charges to two counts of assault on a law enforcement official, third-degree felonies punishable by up to five years in jail per count.
There's a chance the court case can be avoided if a plea deal can be hammered out by Apr. 27, the date of the next court hearing. But Lifeson's attorney, Jerry Berry, told the Naples Daily News, "I think it's going to trial."
According to authorities, the melee started when son Justin refused to get off the stage as the house band was playing during the hotel's New Year celebration.
When police tried to forcibly remove him, daddy allegedly lost his cool and came out swinging.
Per the Collier County Sheriff's Office, Lifeson spat blood on a deputy's face and pushed a female deputy down a hotel stairwell. He was so rowdy and violent, one incident report contends, that officers said they were forced to use a stun gun to subdue him.
Team Lifeson, however, claims it was deputies who instigated the fight.
"I was singing 'Happy New Year's,' that's all I was doing, singing to the whole crowd," Justin told Naples Daily News last year. "Everyone was enjoying themselves. That's when someone apparently started yelling for one of the security guards. There was no violence on our part."
Or, as Alex Lifeson said at the time, "They didn't like the way we were dancing, apparently."
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[font=verdana,helvetica]
by Charlie Amter
[/font][font=verdana,helvetica]Mar 10, 2005, 6:05 PM PT
[/font][font=verdana,helvetica]
Time to break out the bad "Rush to judgment" puns.
Alex Lifeson, guitarist for legendary Canadian prog-rock group Rush, now has a date to answer for some seriously un-Canadian-like behavior.
Lifeson, whose real name is Alex Zivojinovich, is set to stand trial May 16 in Naples, Florida, on two felony assault charges stemming from a New Year's party gone way too wild.
Prosecutors allege the 51-year-old rocker pushed a sheriff's deputy down the stairs of the Naples Ritz-Carlton hotel and spat blood at another in the early hours of 2004.
The guitarist was arrested and suffered a broken nose in the fracas, which also involved his 33-year-old son, Justin.
A part-time resident of Naples, Alex Lifeson was initially booked on six charges, four of which were felonies that could have netted the fret-man 30 years in prison if found guilty. However, after an investigation, the state attorney's office reduced the charges to two counts of assault on a law enforcement official, third-degree felonies punishable by up to five years in jail per count.
There's a chance the court case can be avoided if a plea deal can be hammered out by Apr. 27, the date of the next court hearing. But Lifeson's attorney, Jerry Berry, told the Naples Daily News, "I think it's going to trial."
According to authorities, the melee started when son Justin refused to get off the stage as the house band was playing during the hotel's New Year celebration.
When police tried to forcibly remove him, daddy allegedly lost his cool and came out swinging.
Per the Collier County Sheriff's Office, Lifeson spat blood on a deputy's face and pushed a female deputy down a hotel stairwell. He was so rowdy and violent, one incident report contends, that officers said they were forced to use a stun gun to subdue him.
Team Lifeson, however, claims it was deputies who instigated the fight.
"I was singing 'Happy New Year's,' that's all I was doing, singing to the whole crowd," Justin told Naples Daily News last year. "Everyone was enjoying themselves. That's when someone apparently started yelling for one of the security guards. There was no violence on our part."
Or, as Alex Lifeson said at the time, "They didn't like the way we were dancing, apparently."
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