Sam Hunt has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges in Tennessee’s Davidson County Circuit Court, stemming from a 2019 DUI arrest in Nashville.
Hunt pleaded guilty on two counts of DUI Wednesday (Aug. 18) and will spend 48 hours in the “alternate sentencing facility” DUI Education Centers, according to The Tennessean. The singer-songwriter was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in jail, though all time was suspended except for 48 hours. In addition to being required to complete an alcohol safety course, Hunt will also lose his license for one year and will be required to install an interlock on his vehicle once he regains his license.
Hunt was indicted by a Davidson County grand jury in December on DUI charges and an open container violation in connection with his November 2019 arrest. The Tennessean, citing Assistant State Attorney Seth Colon, reported that Hunt’s open container charge was dropped as part of Hunt’s plea deal on Wednesday.
The Tennessean also reports that had Hunt gone to trial and been convicted, he would have faced more than two years in prison.
Billboard has reached out to Hunt’s representative for comment.
On Nov. 21, 2019, Hunt was arrested in Nashville, after police responded to a report of a vehicle going the wrong way on Ellington Parkway. Police pulled the singer over on Fifth Street shortly after 4 a.m., and Hunt admitted he had been drinking. Metro police conducted a field sobriety test, which was captured on an MNPD dashboard camera. The Tennessean also reported Hunt had a blood-alcohol level of 0.173, more than the legal limit of 0.08.
Following his arrest, Hunt released a statement via social media to apologize for the incident, saying, “Wednesday night I decided to drive myself home after drinking at a friend’s show in downtown Nashville. It was a poor and selfish decision and I apologize to everyone who was unknowingly put at risk and let down by it. It won’t happen again.”
Hunt’s most recent album, Southside, was released in April 2020 and has included three consecutive No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart: “Kinfolks,” “Hard to Forget” and “Breaking Up Was Easy in the ’90s.”
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