Delaney Cops Plea in DUI Case
The star of ABC's rookie legal drama pleaded no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving, after she was arrested last month on suspicion of drunk driving.
Malibu Superior Court Judge-to-the-Stars Lawrence Mira (who has presided over the trials of Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen and Tommy Lee) sentenced the 40-year-old actress to two years' probation, fined her $300 and ordered her to take a safe-driving class. Delaney did not attend the court hearing, and her lawyer, Steve Sitkoff, entered the plea for her.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested Delaney January 26, after a motorist called 911 to report seeing a Mercedes-Benz weaving while driving on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The motorist then followed Delaney to her house and identified to deputies that she was the one driving.
When Delaney arrived at her house, she also set off a burglar alarm, sending more deputies to the scene. (Her lawyer says someone had changed the alarm code without telling her.) After rejecting a request to take a blood-alcohol test, police took Delaney to the Malibu sheriff's station, where she was booked on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
The charge, however, was reduced to reckless driving because there was "insufficient evidence to prove that her erratic driving was due to alcohol," Deputy District Attorney Jane Robison told reporters.
Delaney's lawyer released a statement Wednesday saying the actress would like to "express her gratitude to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office for their determination that, contrary to various reports in the media, she was not found to have been drinking and driving."
Delaney, whose latest film role included Mission to Mars, got her start on daytime TV with a role on ABC's All My Children. She then moved to prime-time and won an Emmy in 1997 for her role as hard-nosed detective Diane Russell on Steven Bochco's groundbreaking NYPD Blue.
Delaney left the series in 2000 and then rejoined Bochco this season for his new series Philly. The Tuesday-night drama stars Delaney as a single mom and defense attorney in the City of Brotherly Love.






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