Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney Faces Imprisonment Over This Guilty Plea

Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts
Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts accept the Cliffie Stone Icon Award during the 14th Annual Academy Of Country Music Honors at Ryman Auditorium on August 25, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. Jason Kempin / Staff

Rascal Flatts guitarist Joe Don Rooney will serve two days in jail and forfeit his license after pleading guilty to a 2021 DUI charge on Wednesday.

According to The Tennessean, what was committed was a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. The remaining 11 months and 27 days of Rooney's sentence will be suspended, but the country star will be compelled to complete a DUI course.

He may also apply for a restricted driver's license that allows him to operate a car with an integrated breathalyzer.

Rooney was detained early on September 9, 2012, after his vehicle struck with a tree on Hillsboro Road in Williamson County, Tennessee. Rooney was arrested for driving under the influence following the arrival of a Williamson County deputy. The Williamson County Sheriff's Office verified to Rolling Stone the arrest.

Rooney, a Nashville resident, was booked into the Williamson County Jail and released the same day after posting a $2,500 bond.

At the time of the arrest, a Rascal Flatts representative declined to comment.

Beginning in 2000, Rooney and his Rascal Flatts compatriots Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus experienced a two-decade-long series of significant successes.

Between 2000 and 2010, the group released the multi-platinum albums Feels Like Today and Me and My Gang, as well as a string of country chart songs including "Mayberry," "What Hurts the Most," "Bless the Broken Road," and "Here Comes the Night." From 2003 to 2008, they won the CMA Vocal Group of the Year award every year.

The band released the album How They Remember You in 2020 and announced plans for a farewell tour that would double as a retirement and 20th anniversary celebration.

Due to the pandemic, the June dates were finally canceled in the spring of that year.

It can be recalled that Rascal Flatts never said goodbye properly before disbanding.

But it appears that a reunion is not even that impossible.

Allison DeMarcus, the wife of Jay DeMarcus, recently spoke with Fox News Digital about the band's unanticipated dissolution and hinted at a possible reunion.

"I think that COVID was really what caused the band to cancel their farewell tour and ultimately go in their separate directions," Allison told the outlet. "I do believe the band will be back together once again because they're all still friends and partners in business, and they've had such a strong run for so long," she said in confidence.

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