Seven months after he put a female film executive in a chokehold, actor Emile Hirsch he has been sentenced to jail for a surprisingly short stay. Witnesses say Hirsch dragged Daniele Bernfeld across a table and body-slammed her to the floor while at the Sundance Film Festival.
Bernfeld described the attack as "insanely painful and absolutely terrifying." In a statement she read in court she said she thought she was going to die.
The maximum for this kind of assault charge is five years in prison. Because Hirsch's lawyers entered a plea bargain, he's getting off with just 15 days behind bars, plus 50 hours of community service and $4,750 in fine. As a bonus, the charges will be dropped from his record after he serves his sentence.
Hirsch's lawyer says the actor "consumed an enormous amount of alcohol on the evening in question and he has no memory of what happened." He entered an alcohol rehab program right after the incident.
More from The Stir: Actor Emile Hirsch Charged With Chokeholding a Woman at a Drunken Party
So. I guess we see what a difference a good lawyer can make, right? Well, that and taking a guilty plea.
Just for a reality check I looked into a couple other recent assault cases to see how typical this is. I believe this is Hirsch's first offense of this sort.
Robert Sims was sentenced to three and a half years of prison for dragging a man from his SUV and beating him up in front of his wife and 2-year-old daughter. He was joined in the assault with some of his fellow motorcycle biker friends. This was the minimum sentence for a charge with a maximum of eight years.
An ex–undercover cop who was involved in the same biker gang attack was sentenced to two years in city jail. He did not actually physically assault the victim, but was accused of breaking the rear window, shattering glass on the mother and toddler, and delivering two roundhouse kicks to the car.
Kristin Noel Forbes was sentenced to four months in jail for assaulting a deputy. She had been arrested on a public intoxication charge when she kicked out the back door window of the cop car and assaulted the deputy when he tried to restrain her.
Every assault case is different, of course. So it's kind of apples to oranges. But it also makes you wonder if Hirsch got some extra leniency because he's a celeb. At any rate, I hope he makes good use of this huge break, gets sober, and never does anything like this ever again.
Image via Splash News