Crosby Cops Plea

07/02/2004 4:10 PM, E! Online
Marcus Errico

Looks like it won't be dj vu for David Crosby .

The doughy member of Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, who once spent a year in the slammer on a drug charge, has avoided any prison time after copping a plea Friday in a gun-and-drug case.

Crosby, 62, pleaded guilty in Manhattan State Supreme Court to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

Although the charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, the singer was able to get away with paying a $5,000 fine and additional court fees and a promise of staying out of trouble. If he fails to keep out of trouble, however, Crosby could be sent up the river.

Crosby had originally also faced lesser charges of unlawful possession of marijuana, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal possession of a hunting knife, but those counts were dropped as part of the plea bargain.

The trouble dates back to March 6. The musician had accidentally left a piece of luggage at his Times Square hotel. After searching the green canvas bag for identification, a maid reportedly came across a one-ounce baggie of marijuana in a wooden box, a .45-caliber handgun, ammunition and two knives. The employee informed hotel management who then called the authorities.

When Crosby, who was across the river in New Jersey playing a concert with his band CPR, returned a few hours later to retrieve the lost luggage, he was met by police, who took him into custody on pot and gun charges. The original counts carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Until now Crosby seemed to have put his drug problems behind him. In 1985, he served a year in a Texas jail after being found guilty for a drug-related arrest in Dallas. The conviction was later overturned on appeal and he was released.

Although he is a twice-enshrined Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, as a member of the Byrds and of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Crosby might be most famous today as the guy who fathered fellow rocker Melissa Etheridge 's baby. Crosby provided the sperm that artificially inseminated Etheridge's then partner, Julie Cypher.