Morgan Wallen Will Not Be Appearing in Court This Week for Alleged Chair-Throwing Case: Here's Why

*UPDATE: Morgan Wallen's felony charges have now been reduced, with Wallen facing two misdemeanour charges of reckless endangerment without a weapon. His plea hearing takes place on Thursday, December 12th. Details here.

Morgan Wallen was scheduled to make his first court appearance this week since his alleged chair-throwing incident in April, with the court date initially set as Thursday, December 12th.

However, it has now been confirmed by WKRN that the Sneedville megastar will not be appearing in court this week after all, as he has waived his preliminary hearing.

Morgan Wallen's lawyer appeared in court today (Tuesday, December 10th) to file the official paperwork, with Morgan not in attendance. His lawyer confirmed that the case will now head to the Circuit Criminal Court, and seemed to suggest that the ‘next step’ would be to attempt to strike an agreement with all involved parties.

At the time being, there is no officially announced court date for Morgan Wallen. His lawyer also underlined that the waiving of this preliminary hearing does not mean Morgan will necessarily have to appear before a Davidson County Grand Jury.

When this was first announced, Morgan Wallen's case was believed to have been bound over to a Grand Jury, which was originally expected to be impaneled at some point in January 2025. Judging from his lawyer's latest comments, captured in a newly shared via published by WSMV, it seems that's no longer the case.

Initially, Morgan Wallen's first court date was lined up for August 15th, before being delayed until December 12th. Morgan is being charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment, in addition to one count of disorderly conduct, with the ‘Thought You Should Know’ singer-songwriter accused of throwing a chair off the top of Eric Church's Chief's Bar on Broadway in Nashville at 10:53pm. The chair is alleged to have landed near two Metro officers standing below.

A couple of weeks after the incident, Morgan Wallen made a rare post on X (formerly Twitter) to address what happened, “I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility. I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe. Regarding my tour, there will be no change. -MW”.

There are a number of reasons why Morgan Wallen's team might have wanted to waive this week's preliminary hearing, such as speeding up the progress of the case. Alternatively, it could be a means of giving Morgan's attorneys extra time to work out a settlement with the prosecutors ahead of his Circuit Criminal Court court appearance.

In theory, Morgan Wallen could face up to six years of jail time, but this worst-case outcome has been deemed by many as unlikely. There have been other reports suggesting Morgan's team are working on a plea deal, which could see him serving between 30 to 60 days in jail, but it must be stressed that at this point, this is just speculation.

Last month, the notorious sign that was put up at the point where Morgan Wallen allegedly threw the chair off Chief's Bar, which playfully read ‘Don't Even Think About It, You Are Not Morgan Wallen”, was removed without any explanation from the management team. Now, in its place on the sixth floor of Eric Church's bar, there is a scrawled message reading “Right here. Stop asking bartender! MW”. The implication seems to be that Morgan himself wrote this, with the Chief's bar-staff perhaps getting tired of tourists coming into the venue purely to see the sign.

Morgan Wallen is currently on a brief hiatus from performing live, after wrapping his record-breaking One Night At A Time World Tour in Charleston, South Carolina in October.

Despite not releasing an album in 2024, Morgan was one of Spotify's Top Five most streamed artists in the US. The ‘Everything I Love’ crooner is believed to be honing his eagerly awaited One Thing At A Time follow-up record during his time away from the road.

Last week, Morgan shared an update with fans, explaining, “What's going on, y'all? I know that if you're watching this video, then you spent at least one night on the One Night at a Time tour, so I just wanted to say thank you personally and give you an opportunity to have something cool at the same time - and to let you know I’m working. I’m taking a little bit of time for myself but I’m working also, and I can’t wait to get back out there and see y’all at some point next year. Appreciate it”.

We're hoping Morgan Wallen announces both new music and a 2025 series of shows before too long, with Morgan potentially waiting for his attorneys to land on a more concrete resolution to his ongoing court case before committing to a full-blown tour.

For more on Morgan Wallen, see below: