As Lindsay Lohan gets ready to finish her sentence for probation violations, Charlie Sheen could just be starting his for domestic violence charges.
Unlike the barely employed “Mean Girls” actress, the “Two and a Half Men” superstar, who at $900,000 an episode is estimated to be the highest paid actor on television, will likely not be serving weeks behind bars.
In fact, Sheen is expected to be on set later this week to commence filming of the eighth season of the hit CBS sitcom.
What is certain is that Sheen will be in court Monday afternoon in Aspen along with his lawyers to face felony and assault charges stemming from the Christmas Day incident between the actor and his wife Brooke Mueller.
Richard Cummins, Sheen’s Aspen lawyer, had no comment on the case when contracted by TheWrap except to say that “right now” the Aug. 2 hearing “is still on the calendar.” Attempts by TheWrap to contact the Aspen district attorney’s office were not immediately returned. However a person close to the case in Colorado told TheWrap that “after the disaster of the last time, everybody wants to see this wrapped up this week.”
A plea bargain deal for the Sheen who has had a number of run-ins with the law over the years and who had plead not guilty on March 15, fell apart on June 7 just as defense attorneys, the 44-year old actor and the Aspen DA were to appear before the judge. At the time, according to Arnold Mordkin, the Aspen Deputy DA handling the case, the agreement, “hit a snag.”
Sheen, arrested under his real name of Carlos Irwin Estevez after police responded to a 911 call from Mueller claiming the knife-welding actor was trying to kill her, could face up to five years in jail if convicted on all charges. What seems more likely, as TheWrap reported before, is with Mueller refusing the cooperate with prosecutors and based on previous statements from lawyers on both sides about a potential deal, is that Sheen will be handed a sentencing package consisting of some non-consecutive jail time, a fine and community service.
Either way, it looks clear that CBS, which Sheen recently re-signed with in May for another two season of “Two and a Half Men,” are not about to lose their golden bad boy. "I was in denial through the whole process," Chuck Lorre, the show's executive producer, said at a CBS event on July 28. "I was just hoping that everything would work out. I was hoping he would come back because we have a lot more stories to tell."
Originally charged with menacing, a class five felony; criminal mischief, a class one misdemeanor; and second-degree assault, Sheen, who in “a preventative measure” entered a rehab program on Feb. 23, saw the latter reduced to third degree assault in a Feb. 8 court decision.
