Slater's Tush-Touching Case Tossed

Mon., Sep. 19, 2005 12:45 PM PDT by Marcus Errico

Christian Slater may have Very Bad Things on his résumé, but that doesn't make him a wanton butt groper.

A New York judge on Monday agreed to dismiss charges that Slater improperly touched a woman's tuchus at an Upper East Side bodega in May following an argument with his girlfriend.

Per a deal with prosecutors, two misdemeanor harassment counts will be tossed by Manhattan Criminal Courts Judge Shawndya Simpson if Slater remains trouble-free for the next six months. The charges carried a maximum penalty of a year in prison.

"The case is over," Slater told People upon exiting the courthouse. "I'm thrilled.

"This is the process. It just shows that someone can accuse you of anything."

Asked by reporters if he actually grabbed his accuser's gluteus maximus, Slater laughed off the query. But his lawyer, Eric Franz, said, "I think the fact that this case was dismissed speaks for itself. I think it suffices to say we are relieved."

The news comes two months after Slater initially refused a plea bargain. Prosecutors wanted Slater, 36, to plead guilty to second-degree harassment--instead of third-degree sexual abuse--and perform three days of community service.

However Franz told Criminal Court Judge Richard Weinberg that the actor was not in a deal-making mood because he hadn't committed any crime.

"We believe this case warrants dismissal," the attorney told the court.

Authorities had claimed that he committed the posterior-pinching of an unidentified 52-year-old woman in the wee hours of May 31. A handcuffed Slater was subsequently shown in local news video declaring "I didn't do anything" as he was ushered into a police cruiser.

Slater's rap sheet rivals his filmography, and includes a conviction for a high-speed police chase way back in 1989 and a 1994 arrest for trying to bringing a loaded pistol into a terminal at New York's JFK Airport.

In 1997, the Untamed Heart actor was busted for drug-fueled rampage at a Los Angeles party, during which he allegedly slugged his girlfriend in the face, bit a man in the stomach, and got into a shoving match with a police officer. Slater later blamed the meltdown on a cocaine and heroin binge and wound up sentenced to rehab and jail, where he served 59 days of a 90-day sentence.

Earlier this year, Slater filed for divorce from his wife of five years, TV producer Ryan Haddon, citing irreconcilable differences.

The ex-couple had their share of problems, most notably when Haddon was taken into custody in Las Vegas in 2003 after hurling a glass at Slater, who required nine stitches to close a gash in his head. No charges were filed against Haddon after the couple agreed to work out the dispute privately.

When not engaged in real-life drama, Slater prefers the make-believe kind. He headlined this year's horror stinker Alone in the Dark and had a lead role in the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie. Next up is a live reading of Casablanca in Los Angeles (he'll play Rick to Anne Heche's Ilsa at the Actor's Fund of America benefit), set for Oct. 2, and then he's off to London to begin rehearsals for the play Sweet Bird of Youth.