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American Morning

Downey to Plead no Contest to Drug Charges

Aired July 16, 2001 - 10:19   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Award winning actor Robert Downey Jr. has another day in court this morning and again he faces drug charges, this time from an arrest last Thanksgiving. CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us from Indio, California -- Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, just about two minutes ago, Robert Downey Jr., dressed in a very dark suit, looking sort of clean cut, entered the courthouse behind me and at about 8:30 West Coast time, Robert Downey Jr. is expected to walk into the courtroom and enter a no contest plea to charges of felony possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor of being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Now, this plea bargain will effectively keep Downey out of prison and basically continue his rehabilitation at a live-in drug treatment facility in Malibu. For Robert Downey Jr., that is home right now.

Now, the charges here in Riverside County stem from his arrest at a luxury resort hotel in Palm Springs over last Thanksgiving weekend. For a time, it seemed that Downey and his legal team would bitterly fight those charges in Palm Springs. You may recall there was some talk about a 911 caller and that his lawyers had sort of characterized this 911 caller as a jilted partygoer whose sole aim was to set up Downey and get him arrested.

But then something happened. In April, Downey was arrested again in an alley in Culver City, California. The charge, cocaine again. And everything seemed to unravel from there. Downey's parole officer then took Downey straight to a detoxification center. Downey got a new legal team and now here we are in Indio again where Downey, as we said before, is expected to walk into this courthouse and put this long chapter of his life behind him, the charges here in Riverside County, by entering that no contest plea -- Leon?

HARRIS: Paul, is the thinking that he's going to actually end up staying exactly in the same place, the same program that he's in right now?

VERCAMMEN: Exactly, because everybody who's involved in this, including the state department of corrections, wants Downey to continue his rehabilitation. Also in California, the state, after passing Proposition 36, is of a mind set that non-violent drug offenders don't necessarily need to go to prison and I think that everybody's on the same page here. When you talk to prosecutors, his lawyers, corrections officials, they just want Downey to get better. And in talking to his parole officer by the phone, he says that Downey is improving, that he's taking his time and he seems to be quite serious, that he's in a 12 step program and, of course, there's no talk right now of Downey returning to work either in film or television any time soon -- Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, but you know how things work in Hollywood. That may just be a matter of time.

Paul Vercammen in Indio, California, thank you. We'll talk to you a bit later on.

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