"Idol" Finalist Dodged Cocaine, Pot Raps (Bo Bice)

APRIL 28--One of the five remaining "American Idol" finalists was once arrested for felony cocaine possession, but had the charge--and a separate marijuana count--dismissed last year after completing a so-called "diversion program," The Smoking Gun has learned. Harold "Bo" Bice, 29, was busted in June 2001 by Huntsville, Alabama cops and hit with the drug count, a Class C felony, according to the below warrant. He was arrested again in July 2003 near Birmingham and charged with marijuana possession, public intoxication, and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to the latter two misdemeanors in December 2004. The pot charge was dismissed after Bice's successful completion of the same diversion program that covered his prior cocaine bust. In that 2001 case, a District Court preliminary hearing was set for August 29, but when a Huntsville Police Department investigator did not show, Judge Susan Moquin dismissed the Bice case, according to a court docket. But with prosecutors prepared to refile the felony count, Bice later opted to enter a drug diversion program overseen by the district attorney's office, according to Heather Douglas, spokesperson for the Madison County D.A.. Bice formally entered the diversion program in 2003 following his pot arrest, and the two separate drug possession charges were effectively merged and covered by Bice's diversion program, according to a TSG source familiar with the cases (the cocaine charge was bounced on April 28, 2004, and the pot rap was dismissed five months ago). Bice was arrested on the cocaine charge after scoring about 1/2 a gram of the drug from an acquaintance at Huntsville's Silver Dollar strip club, according to a source. If convicted of the felony coke charge, Bice would have faced a maximum of 10 years in jail, though a probationary term would have been more likely. While details of what Bice had to do in the diversion program are confidential, enrollees usually must submit to urine tests, undergo drug counseling, and attend awareness classes. Bice, who worked at the time in a Huntsville bar, is a long-haired rocker whose gritty appearance and performances have stood out from "American Idol"'s usual pop pablum. On Fox Television's "Idol" web site, Bice reports that his "most embarrassing moment" was when he once "fell off stage during a show."

I'm a Carrie fan, though I like Anthony as well. I think Scott has his own niche. I'm thinking he appeals to the older crowd, more subdued music, easy listening I guess they call it. I think he has some talent, though I think the tension is getting to him.

Looks wise neither Scott nor Bo are anything much to look at. Talent wise they are two different styles and appeal to different folks.

I just dislike seeing someone wrongly maligned like so many have been doing to Scott.

I made this post last night in the AI thread.

I think its ok for Scott and Bo to stay. They both seem to have turned to God and changed their lives around.

What has to go is all the dissing of Scott now that Bo has a felony record. His cocaine case may have been dismissed BUT we know he was guilty.

Both Scott and Bo were honest with the AI producers about their pasts. This is a country based on opportunity and as far as I know we haven't stopped allowing people to have second chances in life after having made mistakes.

Both have fallen in the past, and both have gotten up and are trying to change their lives around, they didn't stay fallen in the gutter.

Future comments about Scott in this thread are going to be VERY interesting and revealing.

4,716 posted on 04/28/2005 11:49:09 PM EDT by Netizen

OK guys...

Let's "get real" here.

Some of you guys are as bad as those who defended Clinton by saying that Oral Sex isn't really sex.

If you threw a phone at your wife and hit her with it so hard it broke, don't you think she would consider that an assault?? (Now you Slingblade lovers are going to say it's the phone's fault for breaking.)

You say "don't let the facts get in the way," but here are the facts:

1) Savol and his brother arrived at Martin's home, an argument ensued, with Savol calling Martin "several vulgar names." - nice mouth scotty boy

2) He then grabbed the woman's hand and pulled an engagement ring off her finger and "stated he was also going to take their son," cops reported. - Sorry, but grabbing a ring off someone's finger will actually cause pain, contrary to previous posts.

3) When Savol "grabbed the baby," Martin "stopped him from taking the child by telling [Savol] that she was going to call 911."

4) At that point, according to the police report, Savol shoved Martin, pulled a phone from her hand, and then threw it at Martin, striking her in the chest. "This caused the phone to break," the report notes. - OK so he also SHOVED this girl...have you seen the size of Scottyboy? And there's that phone thing that everyone seems to bring up.

5) When officers arrived at her home, Martin told them that Savol had "made verbal threats to her in the past by telling her to 'watch her back.'" - nice guy.

Sorry, but I've dealt with guys like that and have no respect for them. How many of you would let Scott date your daughters?

OK....now someone will post "she deserved it" like a woman who gets raped because she wears a short skirt.

Now, Bo wasn't selling drugs. He wasn't hurting anyone but himself. And he's cleaned himself up.

He did not beat up a woman. He threw a cell phone at her and he pulled the ring off her finger.

That is not beating someone up.

Besides, it appears that she wrote a letter to the court IN SCOTT'S DEFENSE. She did not press charges the police did.

You have made comments that insinuate that you are a cop. If that's true, then you know full well how that works.

Not only did she write a letter in Scott's defense, she no longer has custody of the little boy. SCOTT DOES.

Think about that Tony.

She probably was doing something around the baby that was inappropriate. Probably drugs or something.

If someone was doing things like that in front of MY baby, I would throw whatever I needed to throw in order to get the baby out of there.

I don't care for tramps that file false charges against a man and everything I've read about this points to her being just the sort of girl to do exactly that.

He was not convicted of assault. He pled no contest to DISORDERLY CONDUCT.

NOT ASSAULT. HE DID NOT ASSAULT HER OR THEY WOULD HAVE CHARGED HIM WITH ASSAULT.

BUT DON'T FORGET, SHE WROTE A LETTER IN SUPPORT OF HIM, TO THE COURT.

She doesn't sound too victimized to me.

That is a long way from assault or wife beating as you like to call it.

Not only does Scott have custody of the boy, he is also a state certified corrections officer.

Scott has turned his life over to Christ, he has custody of his child and he is a corrections officer.

Bo wasn't arrested for smoking a few "j's". He was arrested twice for drugs. Once for pot and the other, THE MOST RECENT one was a FELONY DRUG CHARGE.

A FELONY TRUMPS A DISORDERLY CONDUCT.

Who cares how Scott walks or talks? Big damn deal. He was brought up in that sort of environment. Just as people born in the south have southern accents, people brought up around the "ghetto" are going to pick that up that accent and those sort of behaviors, such as the ghetto walk.

The baby is half black for goodness sakes.

Or is that your real problem Tony?

Do you have a problem with Scott because he acts black and sounds black? Because he's not handsome?

Scott can sing. He isn't the best remaining contestant to be sure, but he didn't make it into the top ten for no reason.

Bo can't sing either. Bo is flashy and loud and puts on a good show, but he sings worse than Scott in my opinion.

Much worse.

I don't see Scott sneering at the judges. You want it to be there, but it just isn't. I was shocked to see your post and others saying that you thought Scott was going to come over there and beat up the judges.

There was NOTHING like that at all. He also took Simon's criticisms like a man throughout this entire thing.

When he said that he thanked Simon for his comments and motioned for the audience to settle down when they were booing Simon he got no credit for that.

Bo is a druggie. This arrest was not all that long ago, but Scott's was 4 YEARS.

Scott never got in trouble again. But Bo got himself arrested TWICE for drugs.

Felony drug possession. He was picked up in a nasty STRIP CLUB. I know lots of drug addicts Tony. My brother is one.

The vast majority of them will get out of jail and go back to drugs after awhile.

If you are indeed a cop then you know that most of them will use again.

But you say it's to be expected because he is a rocker?

I don't think so. I think a druggie is a druggie with a nasty habit with all of the other behaviors that go with it.

The lying, the hiding, the manipulation and all the rest.

Give me someone like Scott who has accepted God, has custody of his child and a good job over a drug addict that hangs out in strip clubs and has done basically nothing with his life but rock in his nearly 30 years on this earth.

I do believe that Bo has accepted Christ. He may be able to let Christ control him and let Christ keep him away from drugs.

That would be great.

Why is it that you are willing to accept that Bo has turned his life around in the 4 months since his court date and diversion course, but not willing to accept that Scott has turned to Christ and is now a good father with a good job?

If you can't accept Scott as changed and forgiven, then how can you accept Bo?

To do anything else is hypocritical and mean spirited.

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