BATON ROUGE – “American Idol” winner Laine Hardy, who was accused of placing an audio recording device in his ex-girlfriend’s LSU dorm room, will avoid jail time and could appeal to have his record cleared of any charges after completing an alternative program for nonviolent offenders, according to The Advocate.
District Attorney Hillar Moore told the newspaper Tuesday that Hardy had enrolled in a pretrial diversion program through the East Baton Rouge DA’s office and that he will not be formally charged if he abides by the conditions of the program.
The program, Moore said, is designed for anyone accused of a non-violent crime.
“We just felt that under the circumstances, and after consultation with the victim, that this was the best alternative to a very poor decision on his part,” Moore told The Advocate.
Hardy was arrested in April 2022 after his ex-girlfriend accused him of placing a recording device in her dorm room disguised as a phone charger. Arrest documents said that investigators listened to the recordings and could hear Hardy’s “very distinguishable” voice. The recordings captured “very candid conversations” between Hardy’s ex-girlfriend and her dorm mates.
If Hardy completes the pretrial diversion program, he can petition the court to have the arrest and the charges removed from his criminal record.
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