Judge Harshes Willie Nelson's Mellow—Weed Deal Goes Up in Smoke!

Country crooner hits a snag while trying to put his pot case behind him

By Josh Grossberg Jul 07, 2011 7:09 PMTags
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At this rate, Willie Nelson may have to give a benefit concert if he wants to get out of this jam.

E! News has confirmed that the Texas judge in the country music legend's pot case has rejected a plea deal Nelson worked out with the local prosecutor, putting the matter back in limbo.

So what went wrong?

Hudspeth County Prosecutor C.R. Bramblett says that he didn't know why exactly a prickly Judge Becky Dean Walker decided the way she did. But the prosecutor suggests her honor may have reacted negatively to a joke he once made suggesting that Nelson serve his community service by coming back and singing "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain" to Walker.

"I think that's what got her kind of where she is," Bramblett jokes (we think). "She said I don't want him to plead by mail but I want you to get him to come back here so I can meet him."

Nice to know Willie's got a fan in the law.

"My real opinion is that she wants to cuckold me and tell me what I have to charge people with. She doesn't have the jurisdiction to do that," the Texan adds.

Nelson will not have to appear in court. Instead, the prosecutor plans to give the court documentation including certified checks that show Nelson paid a $500 fine and $280 in court costs after his pot charge was reduced as part of the plea agreement.

That stemmed from the "On the Road Again" singer's Nov. 26 arrest near El Paso when border patrol agents searched his tour bus at a checkpoint while he was en route from California to Austin.

A rep for Nelson was unavailable for comment.

Bramblett hopes to resolve the case in the next two or three months and predicts by that time hopefully the judge will come around.

"I'm not the beggin' kind of person anyway," said the prosecutor, but added that if the case is not resolved, "it can lay there forever as far as I care."