Dean Stuart Wetter, 65, is charged with assaulting two young male relatives at Heart’s Aug. 26 concert at White River Amphitheatre.
The husband of Heart singer Ann Wilson was charged with two counts of assault Wednesday in connection with a backstage attack on two young male relatives at the group’s White River Amphitheatre concert on Aug. 26.
Dean Stuart Wetter, 65, is charged with one count of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault and is free on $10,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 13.
According to the probable-cause order filed in King County District Court, the relatives, two boys, were watching the Heart concert backstage and left. They walked past Ann Wilson’s new tour bus and asked Wetter, who was standing outside, if they could look inside. He said yes, but to watch for the dogs.
When the boys came out of the bus, they left the door open, the order says. Wetter allegedly started calling them names, and slapped one of the boys in the back of the head. He then punched him in the head with a closed fist, “causing him to see stars” and grabbed him around the throat, court documents say.
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When the other boy tried to help, Wetter grabbed him by the throat “and squeezed to the point that he could not breathe for about five seconds before letting go.” The boy complained of a sore throat, pain and “fear of dying.”
Ann Wilson, 66, married Wetter in April 2015. She was not at his court appearance Wednesday.
Wetter’s attorney, Linda Nye, stressed the family’s need for privacy:
“They are people just like we are,” she said. “The whole family … they are people just like us, and they’ve got to be able to resolve these things privately.”