Justin Roiland, co-creator and star of Adult Swim’s popular animated comedy Rick and Morty, has been charged with two counts of felony domestic violence. An Orange County district attorney first filed a criminal complaint in May 2020, following an incident earlier that year, according to documents obtained by NBC News. Roiland appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on January 12 after he pleaded not guilty in October 2020. Following the May 2020 charges, Roiland was arrested and released on a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and arraigned in October of that year. Details of the case, including interviews, footage, abuse investigation reports, medical reports, and police reports, are currently under a protective order and being withheld from the public. A trial date has not been set.
He is charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit. The incident against the anonymous Jane Doe, who was dating Roiland at the time, allegedly occurred on or about January 19, 2020, according to the complaint. The case has gone through more than a dozen court hearings, including pretrial hearings, since Roiland first pleaded not guilty in October 2020. A protective order filed that month states that Roiland is not to threaten, harass, surveil, or go within 100 feet of the person named in the order and must turn in any firearms he owned or possessed. It is unknown who requested the order. At present, authorities have sealed the affidavit in support of Roiland’s arrest.