
Dec 27, 2007 3:00 pm US/Mountain
Amy Winehouse Summoned To Norwegian Court
OSLO, Norway (CBS) ―
Amy Winehouse has been summoned to appear in court in Bergen after appealing her fine for marijuana possession.
"I can confirm that she must appear in court," Bergen police
spokeswoman Liv Karlsen said Thursday. "If one appeals a conviction,
it's the rule that one has to appear in person, so this is not
surprising."
The 24-year-old British singer-songwriter and her husband, Blake
Fielder-Civil, were arrested in Bergen on Oct. 18 and held overnight on
charges of illegal drug possession.
They were released the next day after paying fines of $715 each on
charges of possessing about 1/4-ounce of marijuana, and continued on a
European tour.
Winehouse later claimed she had been tricked into signing the charges
and didn't know what she had put her signature to. Police say they are
sure she knew, and that fluent English speakers helped her.
The singer's lawyer has said that a conviction and a fine could damage
her career by making it more difficult for her to enter the U.S.
Winehouse has spoken openly about her penchant for alcohol and
marijuana, and her hit single "Rehab" is an autobiographical tale of
her resistance to being pushed to go to rehab: "They tried to make me
go to rehab, but I said no, no, no."
She was photographed earlier this month walking outside her London home
wearing a bra and jeans, with no shoes, looking distressed.
Her 25-year-old husband was ordered held in custody in London last
month on charges stemming from a case in which he is accused of
assaulting a barman in June.
Earlier this month the singer's mother, Janis Winehouse, wrote her troubled daughter an open letter in the UK's News
of the World. She pleaded with the "Rehab" singer to get her life
together.
"We were terrified after we saw those pictures of you earlier this
week, wandering the freezing streets of London at dawn in your
underwear," she wrote. "All I wanted to do was rush into those pictures
and wrap you up in a big, warm blanket."
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