Lil Nas X to attend mental health program

Things are looking up for Lil Nas X as the rapper’s felony police battery case is a step closer to being dismissed

On Monday, Judge Alan Schneider ruled that the Grammy winner, born Montero Hill, be granted entry into a mental health diversion program, Rolling Stone reported. So long as Lil Nas X complies with the treatment plan determined after his bipolar disorder diagnosis, as well as obeying all laws for the next two years, the case will be dismissed.

The musician is also prohibited from possessing any weapons and threatening any violence during the two-year program.

“When treated, he is much better off, and society is much better off,” Judge Schneider told the court, finding that the artist’s arrest in August was “aberrant from his normal conduct.”

The court determined the incident was linked to the artist’s subsequent diagnosis of bipolar disorder, with the judge adding that Lil Nas X “appears to be doing very well.”

According to Rolling Stone, Lil Nas X’s defense lawyer, Christy O’Connor, told the court that Lil Nas X voluntarily checked himself into the Meadows treatment hospital in Arizona after his arrest and received nearly two months of inpatient care that was “absolutely successful.”

He has since transitioned to what she described as a “pretty rigorous mental health regimen,” including weekly sessions with a psychotherapist and appointments with a psychiatrist every three months. She said the incident last summer was highly public and “humiliating,” and that Lil Nas X is committed to his ongoing care.

The Atlanta-born rapper was arrested last August in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, where officers alleged they found the 26-year-old walking nvde in the street shortly before 6 a.m.

Authorities claim he charged at officers when confronted, leading to his arrest. Suspecting a possible overdose, police transported the musician to a local hospital, where he spent several hours before being taken to jail.