Bruno Mars Cops A Plea Deal

Bruno Mars will skate on his drug charge. He is taking a plea deal in Las Vegas to be allowed to pay a fine, serve probation and have a felony cocaine possession charge against him dismissed. The 25-year-old Grammy nominee is due before a Las Vegas judge Feb. 4 to waive an evidentiary hearing so he can plead guilty and be sentenced in state court.

Mars' real name is Peter Hernandez. Defense lawyers David Chesnoff and Blair Berk said that if he pays a $2,000 fine, performs 200 hours of community service, completes drug counseling and stays out of trouble for a year, no conviction will remain on his record.

"Bruno is very appreciative he is being given this opportunity as a first offender not to suffer any conviction and instead to have his charge dismissed," Berk told The Associated Press. "He is taking all of this quite seriously."

The plea agreement will let Mars step past the Las Vegas cocaine charge a week before the 53rd Grammy Awards show in Los Angeles. Mars is nominated for seven awards, including best male pop vocal for his hit, "Just the Way You Are." He also co-wrote "(Expletive) You" and was featured on B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" — a nominee for record of the year.

I hope he has learned his lesson being that he is getting off with a slap on the wrist. If he chooses to engage in drug use, he can at least have common sense to use it in the privacy of his own home or where the public can't just walk up on him and catch him in the act.