Man Accused Of Stalking John Rich Warned

The Tennessean reports the judge told Mark “Chris” Sevier to stop “playing games” with the court or go to jail.

Sevier faces two counts of aggravated stalking and one count of criminal impersonation after being accused of stalking Rich and then stalking a 17-year-old girl separately from the music star. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond awaiting trial scheduled for October.

Sevier has been accused of stalking Rich for years. A police report filed last year in Nashville said Rich told investigators that he had become increasingly fearful for his family’s safety because he traveled often. Rich told police, the report said, that Sevier had sent him numerous emails, including one with a picture of Sevier draped in an American flag “wearing very little if any clothing” and covered in a substance believed to represent blood.

On Wednesday, a prosecutor asked that Sevier’s bond be revoked, saying he was toying with the court after being ordered to give 24-hour notice and a detailed schedule of his travel plans any time he left his home state of Alabama. Prosecutor Tammy Meade told the judge that Sevier sent an email in April to court officials just before midnight on a Friday saying he was moving that weekend to New York. He also allegedly later sent emails saying he might spend time in Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.

“This is playing games with the court order, seeing how far he can push it,” Meade said. “Every word he writes is calculated.”

Peter Strianse, an attorney who represents Sevier, argued that his client had not made any “willful violation” of the court order. Sevier, the lawyer said, is currently staying in a condo in New York.

Davidson County Criminal Court judge Mark Fishburn said Rich was due in New York next week and Sevier could not be in the state as long as the country singer was there.

The judge warned Sevier but didn’t revoke the bond.

Rich was part of the duo Big & Rich, who had the hit, “Comin’ to Your City.”