October 11, 2007
Celebrity justice
I've previously written about how Ventura County has changed since I arrived back in '96, exchanging its reputation as a tough-on-crime jurisdiction for a kinder, gentler, more criminal-friendly venue, sort of a San Francisco South -- except that 'Frisco is perceived by some local attorneys as being tougher on crime, Bay Area judges issuing the kind of sentences that would be deemed unduly harsh by the standards of the Ventura bench.
Apparently, Los Angeles has toughened up, too, as seen by the sentence handed down to actress Michelle Rodriguez, after she violated her DUI probation.
Former "Lost" star Michelle Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail for failing to complete community service and alcohol monitoring as part of her probation from a previous drunk driving incident.
Rodriguez appeared before Superior Court Judge Daviann L. Mitchell, who ordered her to report to the county jail on Christmas Eve, the city attorney's office said.
Rodriguez "admitted violation of her probation by failing to provide proof of community service and by consuming alcohol three times while wearing an alcohol monitoring device," City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
"She did file a document that said she completed community service on September 25th, but we obtained evidence that she was in New York that day," Mateljan said.
The document was required as part of 30 days of community service Rodriguez was ordered to serve for violating probation in a 2003 drunken driving case.
Mitchell ordered Rodriguez to complete the community service cleaning streets and highways, and prohibited her from being granted early release for work furlough or electronic monitoring, Mateljan said.
Rodriguez was on three years probation after pleading no contest to hit-and-run, driving on a suspended license and drunken driving in connection with two incidents in Hollywood in 2003.
She violated her probation when she was arrested in Hawaii on a drunken driving charge in 2005.
Rodriguez was ordered to spend 60 days in jail, but served less than a day because of jail overcrowding in May 2006. She was then ordered to perform community service and remain on probation until June 2009.
Holy smokes! A celebrity gets 180 days for a violation of probation? In the motion picture capital of the world? And this in a week when Kiefer Sutherland reportedly got 48 days for a second offense DUI while on probation!
To put this in perspective, I can't remember the last time anyone in Ventura County was slapped with 180 days in the slammer for violating her misdemeanor DUI probation (feel free to correct me).
To put this in celebrity perspective, when former sitcom actress Tracey Gold crashed her minivan while driving drunk a few years back, leaving her husband and one child with broken bones, a Ventura County judge not only reduced the charge to a misdemeanor (the District Attorney had filed it as a felony), but the judge refused to give the actress any jail, sentencing the celebrity to community service.
I guess Hollywood is learning its lesson: If celebrities want to take a walk on the drunken side, don't do it in L.A.
Ventura's much more accommodating.
Posted by Mike Lief at October 11, 2007 07:32 AM
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