by The man who attacked comedian Dave Chappelle onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in May has been sentenced to nearly nine months in prison.
Isaiah Lee, 24, who pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor assault and one count of entering a restricted area during a live event, was sentenced Wednesday to 270 days in county jail, according to the County District Attorney’s Office. City of Los Angeles.
In August, Lee’s attorney, Associate Public Defender Chelsea Padilla, requested that her client be placed in an alternative mental health program. Prosecutors opposed the motion and a judge denied Lee’s request, which could have resulted in the dismissal of the charges against him.
Padilla did not immediately respond to The Times’s request for comment Thursday.
Lee remains behind bars after being separately charged with attempted murder in connection with the December 2021 stabbing of his former roommate. In mid-May, the Los Angeles County district. Attorney George Gascón said that “the publicity generated by the attack on Mr. Chappelle” led the stabbing victim to identify Lee to Los Angeles police detectives.
On May 3, Lee leapt from the audience onto the Hollywood Bowl stage about halfway through Chappelle’s performance during the inaugural Netflix is a Joke comedy festival. In videos of the incident, Lee appeared to lower his head and charge at Chappelle, pushing back “The Closer” comic. Lee fled to the back of the stage where he was stopped by security and suffered minor injuries. Chappelle was not injured.
Lee was found to be carrying a 3-inch folding knife that was shaped like a firearm, but he did not attempt to use the weapon during the attack, authorities said. It’s unclear how Lee was able to enter the show with a gun, or how he got past security and onto the stage.
The weapon in the case will be destroyed, according to the city attorney’s office.
During a performance at the Comedy Store days after the attack, Chappelle said she spoke to Lee before paramedics took him away and Lee shared a story about her grandmother from Brooklyn, who had been forced to leave her neighborhood due to gentrification. The attack was apparently intended to draw attention to her plight, Chappelle said.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office declined to file felony charges against Lee in the attack on the Emmy-winning polarizer because the entertainer was not injured and Lee did not brandish the weapon, prosecutors said.
His next court date is set for Jan. 19, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s inmate records.
Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.
