Mindy McCready News

Country singer Mindy McCready arrived at court Monday for her trial on a charge of driving under the influence and immediately found herself facing another legal problem.

She was 10 minutes late for the start of court, prompting Judge Seth Norman to tell her she was in contempt of court and he would decide later what punishment she would face. The sentence could range from a verbal rebuke to 10 days in jail.

It was the latest in a string of legal and personal problems for the 30-year-old singer.

The drunk driving case centers on a video of the field sobriety tests McCready took after she was stopped for speeding in May 2005.

McCready refused to take a breath test, but the arresting officers said she smelled of alcohol, had watery bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on her feet. They said she acknowledged she had been at a night club earlier and had a couple of drinks.

Her attorney, Lee Dryer, said in his opening statement that the singer was not impaired and that the field sobriety tests were not performed properly.

He said the police cruiser lights were flashing in her eyes, her bladder was full and she had to use the bathroom urgently, her jeans were long and had wrapped around her heels, and the roadside where she performed the tests in her bare feet was littered with stones and other debris that affected her performance.

"Ms. McCready was clearly not under the influence," Dryer told the jury of six men and six women. "I will ask you to look at all of the evidence and be fair."

On the video tape played in court, McCready told the arresting officers she had not had a drink in about nine hours. She also pleaded with them not to arrest her.

"Please don't do this to me," she said over and over. "I'm asking you."

McCready was stopped while driving a friend's sport utility vehicle 58 mph (93 kph) in a 40 mph (64 kph) zone, officers testified.

The singer had run into the friend, James Walker Shell, at a nightclub, her attorney said. Shell was very intoxicated and asked her to drive him home.

Shell is charged with driving under the influence by consent. His case is pending.

The trial was to continue Tuesday.

McCready, who had a No. 1 hit in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time," has struggled in recent years beginning with a 2004 conviction for fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers.

Two days after her arrest in 2005, she was treated at a hospital for injuries suffered in a domestic beating by her former boyfriend, William McKnight.

McKnight pleaded guilty to domestic assault last month and was sentenced to a year in jail, plus probation and counseling. All but 30 days of the jail sentence were suspended.

McCready has since sued McKnight over the beating.

She was charged with violating her probation on the drug charge by failing to check in with her probation officer and leaving the state without permission to go to Florida. Her trial on that charge has been delayed to await the outcome of the drunk driving case.

Last year she also was criminally charged in Arizona over what her lawyer said was an attempt to help catch a con artist. Prosecutors later dismissed the charges.

McCready also has acknowledged she tried twice to commit suicide and had a child earlier this year by McKnight.