Las Vegas Police Dept.A Valentine's Day date has been set for Bruno Mars and what looks to be a sweetheart plea deal that will see him avoid jail time for his cocaine bust.
The pop star, whose real name is Peter Hernandez, appeared before a Las Vegas judge today, saying he'll enter a guilty plea to a felony cocaine count, which will be wiped from his record is he stays out of trouble for one year.
His new court date comes the day after the Grammy Awards—for which Mars is nominated for seven, including Best Male Pop Vocal.
Mars and his lawyers agreed not to contest allegations that the singer was in possession of 2.6 grams of cocaine when he was arrested on Sept. 19 after a performance in Sin City. A bathroom attendant at the Hard Rock, where Mars was, spotted a bag of cocaine on him and alerted security. He was taken into custody without incident and his arrest report states that he told police he had never used drugs before.
He was facing up to four years behind bars if convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance, and the possibility of prison remains if he somehow runs afoul of the law over the next year.
According to the Clark County District Attorney's Office, under the terms of the deal, he'll be fined $2,000, sentenced to a year of informal probation, 200 hours of community service and drug counseling. If he fulfills the terms of his sentence, his record will be wiped clean because he is a first-time offender and his offense was relatively minor.