David Cassidy needs rehab, not prison time — or so says the judge in his latest DUI case.
The "Partridge Family" alum and former teen heartthrob was sentenced to three months in rehab and five years of probation for his January drunken driving arrest. During the Los Angeles court session on Monday, it was also determined that the 63-year-old actor must pay fines and participate in a nine-month alcohol education program.
Cassidy's lawyer, Steven Graff Levine, entered the no contest plea for the actor, who has been in rehab since soon after the Jan. 10 incident, during which he was arrested for drunken driving after being stopped for making an illegal turn. According to the Associated Press, Levine told the court Cassidy will remain in rehab for longer than his sentence mandates and noted that his client is committed to his sobriety.
This was the second time Cassidy, who was once a teen idol whose face adorned the walls of teenage girls' bedrooms nationwide, had been arrested on drunken driving charges in less than six months. Earlier this month, a DUI case stemming from his August arrest in Schodack, New York, was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
And he's been down this road before. In February 2011, he entered a no contest plea to a drunken driving charge stemming from a November 2010 arrest in Florida.
Earlier this year, Cassidy's manager, Jo-Ann Geffen, told CNN that the star's drinking is related to stress from a legal dispute over "Partridge Family" earnings.
"He was in Los Angeles to attend depositions by Sony Pictures Television, respondents in a lawsuit filed by Cassidy in 2011 over what he claims are monies long due him from 'Partridge Family' merchandise, home video, etc.," she said. "After attending his and his manager's depositions, it appears as if the pressure led to a brief relapse."
