Alabama Shakes drummer Steven William Johnson arrested on child abuse charges
Johnson, a founding member of the Grammy-winning band, was booked into an Alabama jail on charges including willful torture of a child under 18; the case was dismissed more than a year later.
Steven William Johnson, 35, the drummer and a founding member of the Grammy-winning band Alabama Shakes, was arrested Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Limestone County, Alabama, on multiple child abuse charges, according to Rolling Stone and E! News. A Limestone County grand jury indicted Johnson on charges of willful torture, willful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise willfully maltreating a child under the age of 18.
Johnson was booked with bond set at $21,500, and an initial court date was scheduled for April 7, 2021, though E! News noted that date was subject to possible rescheduling because of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson's attorney, Nick Lough, said the charges related to a 'spanking incident,' according to Rolling Stone.
The case took months to resolve. Rolling Stone reported that a Limestone County judge dismissed the charge on December 16, 2021 -- nearly nine months after the arrest. Johnson's attorneys, Lough and Marcus Helstowski, said in a statement that 'Steve Johnson maintained his innocence throughout the course of this entire ordeal' and that 'we're thankful that after more than a year this allegation has been put to rest and Mr. Johnson's name has been cleared of any wrongdoing.'
A prior case in the same court
This was not Johnson's first appearance in Limestone County court on a family-related matter. According to Rolling Stone and E! News, he was arrested in September 2019 for violating a protection order filed by his ex-wife following their 2018 divorce; court records cited in that reporting say she had accused him of threatening, harassing, stalking and choking her, and, in a separate complaint, of hitting his son with a belt and leaving bruises on the child's buttocks and thighs. Johnson pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor protection-order violation in March 2020 and received a one-year suspended sentence and 24 months of probation. The belt-related complaint was later dismissed, according to the reporting reviewed.
Where the band stood at the time
Alabama Shakes, formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009, had been on hiatus since 2018, according to E! News, with frontwoman Brittany Howard pursuing a solo career during that period. Johnson performed on both of the band's studio albums: the 2012 debut 'Boys & Girls' and 2015's 'Sound & Color,' which won three Grammy Awards, part of four Grammys the band has won overall, including Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and Best American Roots Performance.
E! News said it reached out to Johnson's representatives for comment on the arrest but had not received a response at the time of its publication, and the reporting reviewed did not include any public statement from the band or from Howard about the arrest or its later dismissal.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Rolling Stone and E! News. It restores a story originally published on this site in March 2021; figures are as reported at the time.