Aspen, Colorado: Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen pleaded guilty on Monday to assaulting his wife during a Christmas Day argument in Aspen, in exchange for a plea deal with no jail time and more serious charges being dropped.
The star of Platoon, Wall Street and Hot Shots! was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation centre, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management classes.
He has 30 days to make arrangements for his sentence at Promises Treatment Centre in California, though whether he will have to report there remains in question. Sheen's attorney, Yale Galanter, explained that the actor has already spent 93 days at the centre this year and that it could choose to credit that time toward his sentence.
Sheen's plea agreement called for Colorado prosecutors to drop a felony menacing charge and a criminal mischief charge, in exchange for pleading guilty to a count of misdemeanor assault. The charges stem from a Christmas Day 2009 dispute with Brooke Mueller Sheen.
Sheen was scheduled to plead guilty at a hearing in June, but that hit a snag over terms of a proposed work release programme. Galanter said a previous agreement called for the actor to serve 30 days in the Pitkin County jail in Aspen. But District Attorney Martin Beeson said Sheen has no criminal record in Colorado and allowing him to avoid jail time was not unusual.
Ninth District Judicial Judge James Boyd gave Sheen credit for time spent in anger management classes. Richard Cummins, another Sheen attorney, said Sheen had already completed 36 hours of anger management classes in California.
The Hollywood star, dressed in a dark suit, shirt and purple tie, entered the county courthouse after waving and blowing kisses to the crowd outside, and flashing a peace sign. Inside the courtroom, he smiled and thanked a supporter who said, "We love you."
"I'm very grateful to the court and to the people of Pitkin County," he said in a statement after the hearing. "I look forward to complying with the court's decision, getting on with my life and putting this behind me."
In handing down the sentence, the Judge said allowing Sheen to focus on what had happened and why it happened was “the best opportunity for the community to be safe."
Brooke Mueller Sheen told police that the actor threatened to kill her and brandished a knife after she told him she wanted a divorce. Charlie Sheen admitted they’d argued but denied threatening her. He told police he was upset by her threat of divorce. He previously went through a bitter divorce and a custody battle with his ex-wife Denise Richards.
Within a week of Sheen's arrest, he and Mueller Sheen both said they wanted to reconcile. In February, they hugged in an Aspen courtroom after a judge modified a restraining order that kept them from contacting each other. Since the incident, both have completed alcohol rehab programmes, and Galanter says they've been sober for months.
