Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Robert Downey Jr. Avoids Jail Under California's Proposition 36, but Will See Life Limited by Parole

Aired July 17, 2001 - 07:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: The attorney for Robert Downey Jr. says the actor wants to overcome his drug addiction. Downey avoided a jail term by agreeing to rehab. under a new California law, but it is a deal that's a lot tougher than it sounds.

CNN's Paul Vercammen explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE RANDALL WHITE: Mr. Downey, I want to tell you this is not a gift of the court.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While Judge Randall White told Robert Downey Jr. the sentence wasn't a gift, the plea bargain announcement in an Indio, California, court Monday gave the actor a package of three years probation and no prison time.

WHITE: ... no contest?

ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ACTOR: Yes, please.

VERCAMMEN: A polite and reserved Downey pleaded no contest to felony possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor of being under the influence of a controlled substance. The charges stem from Downey's highly publicized arrest in a Palm Springs hotel room Thanksgiving weekend.

The judge told Downey the actor will also spend a year in a 24- hour live-in drug treatment facility, which effectively continues his current rehabilitation at a center in Malibu, California.

JAMES EPSTEIN, DOWNEY'S ATTORNEY: He's doing great. I see him every week. My co-counsels see him. We talk with him. He's in great spirits. He's very motivated to overcome the problem he has. And we're all very encouraged.

VERCAMMEN: Prosecutors say, in striking the Downey plea bargain, they are carrying out the spirit of California's recently passed Proposition 36, which calls for treatment, rather than incarceration, for nonviolent drug offenders.

TAMARA CAPONE, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A year ago he would have gone to prison for something like this, but because of the new law, his background doesn't disqualify from it, his current actions don't disqualify from it, so there's nothing else I could have done, no matter who he was.

VERCAMMEN: Downy is now subjected to random drug tests at least three times a week and cannot leave his rehabilitation center without an escort.

Whether he will be allowed to attend the Emmy Awards in September remains to be seen. Downey was recently nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role on "Ally McBeal".

But Downey's parole agent says don't expect the actor to return to work any time soon, and not until corrections officials and drug counselors agree that Downey has been clean and sober long enough to resume his acting career.

Paul Vercammen, CNN, Indio, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com