With the comedian clean and sober (but thankfully, still demented) after completing an 18-month drug diversion program, a judge on Monday dismissed felony and misdemeanor drug charges against him.
Dick, 35, pleaded guilty in August 1999 to felony cocaine possession and two other misdemeanor charges--marijuana possession and possession of a smoking device--following a car crash in Hollywood. But the comic-actor was granted a chance to shape up in rehab rather than jail and, after completing the court-ordered drug program, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus officially dropped the charges.
"Since the incident happened and I've been able to conquer my problems, I've never been happier emotionally, in my family and in my career," Dick said in a statement, obtained by Los Angeles' City News Service. "I have a lot of support from a lot of people and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."
Dick was allegedly intoxicated when he smashed his car into a telephone pole in May 1999. He purportedly tried to run from the scene on foot, but was tackled by a witness and held until police arrived. A subsequent search of his car turned up cocaine and marijuana.
The funnyguy also pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI and hit-and-run charges stemming from the incident. Shortly after his arrest, his publicist said Dick was headed back to rehab, and by the time he returned to court in August 1999 (not long after his NBC sitcom NewsRadio was canceled), he declared that he had been 98 days sober and planned "to stay like that for the rest of my life."
Up until that point, Dick seemed surrounded by a string of troubles and tragedy. As NewsRadio's hapless employee Matthew Brock, Dick costarred opposite Phil Hartman, who was shot to death by his wife in a 1998 murder-suicide. Then in February 1999, Dick was investigated by police for allegedly exposing himself during a Florida university concert. And a month later, he was among the last to party with David Strickland, before the Suddenly Susan costar hanged himself in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Nowadays, Dick stars in his own series for MTV, and he'll be appearing in Go Fish, a new high school sitcom for NBC premiering June 19.