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Man accused of attacking Dave Chappelle pleads no contest and is sentenced

Isaiah Lee was sentenced to 270 days in jail on misdemeanor counts. He still faces an unrelated attempted murder charge.
Bail hearing for Dave Chappelle attacker Isaiah Lee, Los Angeles, California, USA - 10 May 2022
Isaiah Lee, who was accused of tackling comedian Dave Chappelle on the Hollywood Bowl stage, appears in a bail hearing in Los Angeles on May 10.Shutterstock

LOS ANGELES — The man accused of attacking comedian Dave Chappelle onstage in Los Angeles pleaded no contest and was sentenced to jail Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office confirmed.

Isaiah Lee, 24, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of battery and entering a restricted area during a live event, and he was sentenced to 270 days in jail, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said.

City News Service reported about the plea and sentence earlier Wednesday.

Lee was accused of tackling Chappelle while he was onstage at the famous Hollywood Bowl during a performance on May 3.

Lee still faces an attempted murder charge in an unrelated case in which he is alleged to have stabbed his roommate in December 2021. That case is pending. He has been held in lieu of $1 million bond in the attempted murder case.

In the Hollywood Bowl incident, Lee had a device that resembled a gun with a knife blade at the time, but sources have said he did not produce the weapon during the assault and that that factored into the decision not to charge him with a felony.

The weapon will be destroyed, according to the City Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes misdemeanor criminal cases.

A no contest plea means a defendant doesn't admit guilt, but it results in a conviction.

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