Official charges are filed.
From the NaplesNews.http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/art ... 09,00.html
Formal charges filed against Rush guitarist
By JOHN HENDERSON, jfhenderson@naplesnews.com
March 22, 2004
Prosecutors in Southwest Florida have filed charges against the lead guitarist for the internationally known rock group Rush related to an altercation he had with Collier County deputies at the Ritz Carlton, Naples,on New Year's Eve.
The State Attorney's Office has filed two charges of battery on a law enforcement officer against Alex Zivojinovich, 50, known on stage as Alex Lifeson. He is a part-time resident of North Naples.
Zivojinovich, one of the founding members of Rush, was arrested after a scuffle with deputies.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office had arrested Zivojinovich on six charges. The arrest charges include four felonies, the most serious of which could have resulted in 30 years in prison if convicted.
However, after an arrest it is up to the State Attorney's Office to decide which formal charges to file, if any.
Under the revised charges, the guitarist's potential prison time if he is convicted has been reduced substantially from what it could have been under the original charges.
The two third-degree felonies he now faces could be punishable by five years in prison if he is convicted.
The State Attorney's Office also filed a charge against Zivojinovich's son, Justin. He is facing one count of resisting an
officer with violence. Prosecutors dropped a charge of disorderly intoxication against him, as they did against Alex Zivojinovich.
Arrest reports said the altercation between Alex Zivojinovich and deputies began after his son got up on the Ritz house band's stage after being warned not to do so. The reports state Justin Zivojinovich became verbally abusive after he was asked to leave the stage, where a band led by Freddy Cole was performing at the $650-a-couple event. Cole is the 71-year-old younger brother of the late, legendary performer Nat King Cole.
Arrest reports state Alex Zivojinovich intervened when deputies were escorting his son off the property. The reports accuse Alex Zivojinovich of pushing a female deputy down a stairwell and spitting in another deputy's face. Alex Zivojinovich left the jail with a blood-stained shirt and broken nose.