John Rich Charged With Assault And Harassment

Rich

WARNER BROS/NASHVILLE artist JOHN RICH has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment and has turned himself in the NASHVILLE police. 

He is currently free on $3,000 bond. According to today's (5/29) TENNESSEAN, the charges were filed by former NASHVILLE STAR contestant JARED ASHLEY and stem from an ongoing dispute between the two that includes a MARCH 2009 incident at a MUSIC CITY club owned by RICH, where ASHLEY claims RICH punched him in the face.

RICH has released the following official statement: "This entire ridiculous situation is nothing more than an effort by singer, JARED ASHLEY, and music row attorney CHRIS SEVIER, to try to obtain money from me. Mr. SEVIER and Mr. ASHLEY have falsely accused me of misdemeanor crimes. I trust that the truth will come out through the process of our American justice system and that I will be completely exonerated at the end of the day."

In APRIL, RICH filed suit against ASHLEY (NET NEWS 4/10) claiming that ASHLEY defamed him by accusing him of the assault. For more on the story click here.

RICH later released this statement: "I would like to further clarify my original statement released last night.
Singer JARED ASHLEY and music row attorney CHRIS SEVIER demanded I pay 2.9 million dollars in exchange for dropping false misdemeanor charges that they levied against me. They filed the misdemeanor charges in retaliation to the civil suit regarding defamation that I filed against JARED ASHLEY. I refused to pay the 2.9 million dollars and instead opted to turn myself in and fight this in court."

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