“Hard To Forget” vocalist Sam Hunt was in a venue other than his familiar environments of a stage or studio when he appeared — via video conferencing — at downtown Nashville’s Historic Courthouse on August 18 to plead guilty to misdemeanor DUI charges following a 2019 DUI arrest in Music City. Appearing before Judge Amanda McClendon, the Nashville-based performer pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI. As a result, his sentence of 11 months and 29 days in jail had all time suspended except for 48 hours.
Hunt’s charges stemmed from a November 2019 arrest on charges of driving under the influence, plus having an open container in his car after being observed traveling south in the northbound lanes of East Nashville’s Ellington Parkway.
As noted in The Tennessean, Hunt — represented by attorney Rob McKinney — appeared while wearing a button-down shirt, from what “appeared to be one of his Nashville homes.”
Hunt faced more than two years in prison had his case been taken to trial and if he was convicted. Conditions of his guilty plea include agreeing to serve the term of his jail sentence at the DUI Education Centers, plus complete an alcohol safety course. He will also lose his driver’s license for one year and will have a DUI safety interlock device installed in his vehicle upon his license’s reinstatement.
Upon the incident’s occurrence in November 2019, Hunt tweeted an apology: “Thursday 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.”