Trey Trouble - 3 felony counts

[CRAZYED]

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070214/NEWS01/702140315/1009/NEWS05

sorry if this has already been posted.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007
   
   
THE CHARGES
The seven counts on which Trey Anastasio was indicted by a grand jury in Washington County, New York:

COUNT ONE: Criminal possession of a controlled substance (hydrocodone) in the fifth degree, class D felony. Maximum prison sentence of four to seven years.

COUNT TWO: Criminal possession of a controlled substance (heroin) in the seventh degree, class A misdemeanor. Maximum sentence of one year.

COUNT THREE: Criminal possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone) in the seventh degree, class A misdemeanor. Maximum sentence of one year.

COUNT FOUR: Criminal possession of a controlled substance (alprazolam) in the seventh degree, class A misdemeanor. Maximum sentence of one year.

COUNT FIVE: Failure to keep right while driving on Poultney Street, a traffic infraction. No prison time.

COUNT SIX: Driving while ability impaired by drugs, class E felony. Maximum sentence of 18 months to four years.

COUNT SEVEN: Driving while intoxicated, class E felony. Maximum sentence of 18 months to four years.

Phish's Anastasio indicted on 3 felony counts

By Adam Silverman
Free Press Staff Writer

February 14, 2007
An upstate New York grand jury has indicted Trey Anastasio, the iconic lead singer of former Vermont-based jam band Phish, on seven counts arising from a December traffic stop in Whitehall, including three felony charges of illegally possessing prescription painkillers and driving while impaired.

The Washington County grand jury also filed misdemeanor counts accusing Anastasio of possessing heroin and an anti-anxiety medication that had been prescribed to someone else.

The indictment, signed Friday and made public Tuesday at the request of The Burlington Free Press, charges Anastasio with one count of felony drug possession, two counts of felony driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, three misdemeanor charges of drug possession, and a traffic infraction.

Anastasio, 42, a part-time Richmond resident, faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted and sentenced to the maximum on all counts. All the charges, though, carry minimum sentences that involve no incarceration and permit a range of several years on the upper end.

No court date had been set, but Anastasio could be arraigned as early as Friday, the office of District Attorney Kevin Kortright said Tuesday. The prosecutor did not return messages Monday and Tuesday seeking comment.

Anastasio's file at Washington County Court in Fort Edward, N.Y., did not list a defense lawyer, a court clerk said. The musician could not be reached for comment Tuesday night at his Richmond home.

A Whitehall police officer pulled over Anastasio's 2004 Audi for failing to keep right as he drove north on U.S. 4 at about 3:30 a.m. Dec. 15, the department has said. He failed a sobriety test, was taken into custody and posed for a memorable booking photo that Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the "most bemused mug shot ever."

Police said Anastasio had three bottles of prescription drugs that belonged to other people.

Anastasio issued a one-line statement apologizing for the incident.

"I feel terrible about what happened last night, and I am deeply sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my friends, family and fans," he said.

During a hearing Jan. 3 in Whitehall, Anastasio pleaded not guilty to charges that included possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated. Afterward, Kortright said he was considering presenting the case to a grand jury because of the quantity of drugs involved.

The grand jury's indictment says Anastasio possessed two prescription painkillers, hydrocodone and oxycodone; alprazolam, an anti-anxiety drug sold under the brand name Xanax; and heroin. The amount of hydrocodone, more than half an ounce, elevated the charge to a felony; the other drugs prompted misdemeanor charges, according to the three-page indictment.

Grand jurors also charged Anastasio with felony driving while ability impaired by drugs, and felony driving while intoxicated.

The arrest came more than two years after the breakup of Phish, which formed at the University of Vermont during the early 1980s. The band known early on for shows at Nectar's grew into a touring juggernaut that packed tens of thousands of fans into sold-out, festival-like performances.

The four-member group split up in 2004 and held a final, blowout, rain-soaked gig that August in Coventry.

In interviews since then, Anastasio has said the band's last few years included lots of drugs, but he said later he had stopped using narcotics and wanted to preach the values of sobriety.

Anastasio told Rolling Stone last week, according to a report on the magazine's Web site, that he has gone through rehab and had thanked the officer who arrested him in Whitehall because the incident forced him to face his addiction.

Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverm@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

[phud418]

he wont get any jail time

[Wolfmansbrother]

he wont get any jail time

i for one think jail time would do Mr. Anastasio some good
i hate to see one of my idols go down the tubes like that
man needs some straightening out

[sls.stormyrider]

not just cause it's trey, but rehab is more important than jail.

[cactusfan]

not just cause it's trey, but rehab is more important than jail.

agreed. i have a hard some seeing how jailing drug addicts does anything positive for the world.

[rowjimmy]

It keeps prison guards employed ?

[tet]

It keeps prison guards employed ?

and that is a strong union!

[gimmetela]

geez, trey.
fuck.

i hope he learns from this.

[whyweigh5.0]

The amount of hydrocodone, more than half an ounce, elevated the charge to a felony

thats like 30 pills and its a felony, but the heroin was a misdemeanor ? :?

[thechad]

thats like 30 pills and its a felony, but the heroin was a misdemeanor ? :?

What, you think things make sense, this is New York your talking about.

[Marmar]

Remember....NY has some fuckin DRACONIAN drug laws on the books still......one word:

ROCKAFELLER

Those rockafeller drug laws are ludacris......he prolly had a 1/10g of H.....figure, 500mg per pill for the vicodins.......so like what....3-5g of hydrocodone?.......but, since the pills have filler weight, and are "part" of the drug, they take that weight into consideration when deciding the charge......

Picture this......(this actually happened....say the vial weighs 1oz)

You get busted with a vial of liquid that has enough for ONE hit.......guess what, you'll get charged with possession of  1.08oz's of LSD......even though the actual quantity was a minuscule .08z's of L.......

Same thing goes across the board in NY.......you get caught growing pot, guess what?....they will weigh the dirt the plants are in and count that as weight in the charges......

I seriously love NY.....lived there for 28yrs and loved every minute of it.......but their drug laws and bylaws are some of the most antiquated in the nation.......

Thank you Gov. Rockafeller for ruining thousands of harmless peoples lives with your GHEY laws.....

[sophist]

agreed. i have a hard some seeing how jailing drug addicts does anything positive for the world.

I agree.  It does nothing but waste our tax money and does little to help the addict recover. 

[rowjimmy]

Waste, even.

[sophist]

thats what I said  :wink:

[rowjimmy]

That edit timestamp on the bottom of your post tells the truth.