Lil Nas X Will Have His Felony Assault Charges Dropped If He Stays In Treatment
Lil Nas X walked out of a Los Angeles courtroom on 6 April with a clear path to putting his legal troubles behind him. Judge Alan Schneider granted the 26-year-old rapper a two-year mental health diversion program at Van Nuys Superior Court, meaning the felony charges against him will be dismissed entirely if he completes treatment and stays out of trouble through April 2028.
The charges stem from a bizarre incident last August. In the early hours of 21 August 2025, Montero Lamar Hill (his legal name) was filmed walking through traffic on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City wearing nothing but underwear, cowboy boots, and an orange traffic cone on his head. When Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers responded, prosecutors say he assaulted three of them during the arrest.
He was charged with three felony counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer. The charges carried up to five years in prison. He pleaded not guilty, spent a weekend in jail, and was released on a US75,000 bond.
Lil Nas X is free. pic.twitter.com/zc1jx4GC9Y
— greg. (@mistergeezy) August 25, 2025
A diagnosis changed the conversation
Following the arrest, Hill was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His defence lawyer, Christy O’Connor, told the court he voluntarily checked himself into an Arizona treatment facility and completed nearly two months of inpatient care. Judge Schneider found that Hill’s behaviour on the night of the arrest was “aberrant from his normal conduct” and directly linked to his mental health condition. The judge added that Hill “appears to be doing very well.”
O’Connor put it plainly to BBC News: when treated, “he is much better off and society is much better off.”
What happens next
Hill must stick to his court-approved mental health treatment plan and obey all laws for the next two years. If he does, the charges will be wiped from his record with no conviction. If he doesn’t, the felony prosecution picks up where it left off. His next court date is 29 July 2026.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, the Old Town Road hitmaker kept it simple: “I’m thankful. Just very thankful. It could have been much worse.”
It’s a significant outcome for one of the most prominent openly gay artists in music. The case raised real questions about mental health, policing, and how the justice system handles people in crisis. For now, the answer looks like treatment over punishment, and that feels like progress worth paying attention to.
