Courtney Love has emerged from her legal hole.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed one misdemeanor assault case and two drug-possession cases against the rocker Monday after finding that she had successfully completed drug rehabilitation.
Love, dressed in a black suit and accompanied by her manager, Peter Asher, and her lawyer, Howard Weitzman, wept with joy upon hearing the judge's decision.
"Thank you for not taking me into custody," Love told Judge Rand Rubin. "Thank you for giving me an opportunity. You've been a good, fair judge. Sorry for crying."
Rubin's ruling ended Love's probation a month early in the drug cases and more than a year early in the assault case.
"Early on in this case, Ms. Love, I think you came very close to coming into custody," Rubin said. "I think you've done very well. You've shown to me you are interested in a much less destructive lifestyle."
Love had previously pleaded no contest in February 2005 to a charge of attacking musician Kristin King in April 2004. On Monday, King appeared in court with her attorney, Gloria Allred, to request that the judge maintain a protection order against Love.
Rubin denied the request, stating that he had "a feeling they will stay away from each other."
While he acknowledged the possibility of a relapse, Rubin told Love he wanted "to cautiously wish [her] the best in this matter."
In addition to her plea in the assault case, Love previously pleaded guilty to possessing Vicodin and Oxycontin without a prescription and to being under the influence of cocaine in public.
In September 2005, she was sentenced to 180 days in a live-in drug-rehab facility after violating her probation in the cases. At a progress report hearing in February, she said that she had put "a very gnarly drug habit behind [her]" and was "doing great."
Love appeared on Good Morning America last month, where she credited Mel Gibson with helping her to achieve sobriety, explaining that the actor-director kept turning up her doorstep with an addiction counselor in tow. (While Love did not say exactly when Gibson staged his intervention, it was presumably before his own troubles began.)
With 16 months of sobriety behind her and a squeaky-clean legal docket, Love was poised to make a fresh start.
"I'm so happy and excited. I'm relieved," Love told Us Weekly on Monday. "I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders."