LOS ANGELES : Billy Preston Pleads No Contest to Charges
Singer and musician Billy Preston pleaded no contest Friday to possession of cocaine and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from incidents involving a teen-age boy and a man in 1991.
The felony cocaine possession charge stemmed from Preston’s arrest in August, 1991, for investigation of sexual assault on a 16-year-old boy picked up at a day-laborer gathering point and taken to Preston’s Malibu home. The maximum possible sentence Preston could face for both counts would be 4 years and 8 months in state prison.
Other charges from that incident will be dropped when Preston is sentenced Oct. 16. The charges to be dropped include additional drug counts and two other misdemeanors, child molestation and exhibiting pornographic material to a minor.
Preston’s hits include “Will It Go Round in Circles?” and “Nothing From Nothing.” As a musician, singer and writer, he has been associated with James Cleveland, the Beatles, Little Richard, Ray Charles and the Rolling Stones.
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