Chris Cops While Katie Kisses

Fri., Apr. 29, 2005 5:00 PM PDT by Charlie Amter

This is not shaping up to be Chris Klein's best year ever.

While ex Katie Holmes and new squeeze Tom Cruise embark on their international-headline-making European coming-out tour, the American Pie actor was on the wrong end of a DUI sentence, E! Online has learned.

Klein's lawyer entered a guilty plea on the actor's behalf late Friday to one misdemeanor count, according to San Diego District Attorney's Office spokesman Paul Levikow.

The actor was sentenced to five years' probation, 150 hours of community service (which Klein's lawyer indicated the actor would like to fulfill at the Red Cross), a 90-day license suspension and a $1,800 fine.

Because the DUI charge was a misdemeanor, Klein's presence was not required at Vista Superior Court just north of San Diego Friday; his Beverly Hills-based attorney, Blair Berk, entered the plea.

The 26-year-old Election star was busted on Feb. 5 just outside San Diego for driving with a sky-high blood-alcohol level of 0.20, more than double the state's legal limit of 0.08. (Klein's extreme BAC is what accounted for the extra-long five-year probationary period.)

The thesp was booked under his full name, Frederick Christopher Klein, and spent six hours in custody.

His booze cruise came just weeks before his split with Holmes was made public. The couple, who dated for five years, announced in early March that they had called off their engagement.

Within weeks, Holmes, 26, had hooked up with Cruise, 42. This Wednesday, their publicists confirmed Cruise and Holmes were dating after the twosome was spotted cavorting around Rome. On Friday, the couple got all mushy for the media, kissing in front of paparazzi and appearing arm-in-arm at the David di Donatello Awards, Italy's Oscars, where Cruise received a lifetime achievement award.

The couple will be back in the States soon to promote their respective would-be summer blockbusters, her Batman Begins and his War of the Worlds.

Klein, meanwhile, will be putting his time in at the Red Cross for the next few months before having to face reporters to promote his next flick, the mismatched brother comedy The Long Weekend with Brendan Fehr, due this fall.