WEST CHESTER - A Chester County judge yesterday may have taken some of the spring out of Bon Jovi's Bounce World Tour by denying a furlough to the band's ace sound engineer.
The band said it needed William "Obie" O'Brien, 52, of Nottingham, for a "groundbreaking and quite complicated" broadcast of a Bounce gig in San Jose, Calif., to air on QVC.
One problem: O'Brien is completing a prison sentence for having sex with a 15-year-old girl. "Having Obie in charge of the sound quality of a program that will be seen by more than five million viewers live on television is essential to the success of the band and the evening's program," wrote Ilene Schreibman, a Bon Jovi spokeswoman.
After listening to attorneys on both sides and the victim's mother, Chester County Court Judge Juan R. Sanchez, who sentenced O'Brien in August 2001 to 18 to 59 months in jail, issued a ruling without comment.
10-04-2008, 07:36 PM
