Last month, I wrote about Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora's drunken excursion behind the wheel in Laguna Beach, California. To recap, Sambora, 48, his girlfriend, Jenn Mallini, his and Heather Locklear’s ten-year-old daughter Ava, and her teenage cousin, were in the car when the guitarist was pulled over in Orange County after he was spotted swerving his black Hummer and straddling two lanes.
Sambora peacefully submitted to a breathalyzer test, and the results are in - .13% blood alcohol content level. That's nearly twice the legal standard of .08% in California for which a person is considered to be intoxicated.
Earlier yesterday in a Newport Beach courtroom, the District Attorney's office filed two misdemeanor DUI charges against Sambora: driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher and driving under the influence. The prosecution decided not to file child endangerment charges against Sambora, as had been suggested by the Laguna Beach police department. A spokesperson for the District Attorney’s stated that the office felt that the DUI charges were punishment enough.
Instead of trying to fight the charges against him, Sambora wisely opted for a plea bargain. The rocker, represented by his attorney, Blair Berk, agreed to a three-year probationary sentence during which he is not allowed to drink alcohol or take illicit drugs; he must attend a three-month long alcohol awareness course; and he was also ordered to pay fines totaling nearly $1,600.
In exchange, the court dropped the driving under the influence charge against Sambora.
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