Charlie Sheen Pleads Guilty in Wife Assault

As reported by the Associated Press, actor Charlie Sheen has plead guilty in an Aspen, Colorado court, in a deal to avoid jail time and public service, for the Christmas day assault on his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen.

Sheen plead guilty to the lesser charge of third-degree assault, in exchange for prosecutors dropping two more serious ones, including a felony charge of menacing.  He will attend 30 days in Promises Treatment Center in California for rehabilitation, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management.

Yale Galanter, Sheen's attorney, stated that since Sheen had already served 93 days at Promises this year the center may credit that toward his sentence.

Brooke Mueller Sheen, due to the domestic dispute on Christmas, had filed the charges against Sheen.  Brooke told police that Sheen was upset with her for asking for a divorce.  Sheen reportedly then pulled out a knife and threatened to kill her.

Sheen countered that yes, they had argued, but that even though upset by her request for a divorce, he didn't threaten her.  Within a week of the fight, both wanted to reconcile.  When they went to court to modify a restraining order that restricted their contact, they hugged when the judge allowed the change.

An earlier plea in June called for Sheen to serve time at the Pitkin County jail in a work release program. That deal fell through because it was undecided whether Sheen should do the program over a more restrictive public service one.  The latter would require that Sheen abide by jail rules while allowed into the community.

Galanter, representing both Sheens, stated that Mueller Sheen wanted the charges dropped and approved of the new plea deal.

Martin Beeson, District Attorney, said that since "Sheen had no criminal record in Colorado, allowing him to avoid jail time was not unusual."

9^th Judicial District Judge James Boyd asked Sheen why he plead guilty, "Because I'm guilty, your honor. I'm very grateful to the court and to the people of Pitkin County.  I look forward to complying with the court's decision, getting on with my life and putting this behind me."

This was not the first time that Sheen has been charged with a crime.  In 1996 he was given two years probation for attacking his girlfriend in his Southern California home.  In 1998, his father, actor Martin Sheen, turned him in for parole violation after a cocaine overdose. 

Attorney Gloria Allred, an LA attorney that had represented an officer in the case, felt that "An appropriate sentence would have been jail time.  It was a serious real life dangerous situation and should carry serious real life consequences ... rather than the extremely light sentence that he received today."

Dan Recht, a defense attorney in Denver and former president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, said, "Prosecutors dropping a felony charge in similar cases or a defendant being sentenced to rehabilitation is not unusual.  But virtually every other case I've seen requires everybody to do the 36 weeks of domestic violence counseling."

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