TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Dec. 9 — An attorney for funk music pioneer George Clinton said Tuesday the musician was illegally searched before he was charged last weekend with drug possession. Attorney Matt Willard said he would file an innocent plea Wednesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse.Clinton, 62, was arrested early Saturday outside a convenience store, near his recording studio. Police said he had a bag of crack cocaine and a glass crack pipe. He was released on $2,650 bail.Cocaine possession, a felony, carries a maximum five years in prison. Clinton also faces a possession of paraphernalia charge."It has already been determined that the facts outlined in the (arrest report) are inaccurate, and at times, misleading," Willard said in a news release. "It appears as if the detention, search, and subsequent arrest of Mr. Clinton were all unlawful."Tallahassee Police spokesman Stewart Clendinen said the department stands behind the facts in the arrest report.Clinton, 63, who headed the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic and the collaboration later known as P-Funk in the 1970s and 1980s is considered a father of the genre. In 1983, Clinton\'s solo record "Atomic Dog" rose to the top of the R&B charts.
