Nicole Richie’s lawyer forced yet another delay in court Tuesday of her pending DUI trial.
“The trial will not happen Wednesday” as scheduled, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney. “Richie’s attorney filed a motion … stating that their key witness, a drug expert, was unavailable.”
Although Los Angeles County Commissioner Steven Lubell denied the pregnant Richie‘s attorney’s request for a new trial start date of August 5, he ordered both sides to court Wednesday to argue over why the trial should be postponed.
Regardless of the outcome, the hearing postpones the trial at least a day.
Nicole Richie does not have to attend the trial. She went to Canada to watch boyfriend Joel Madden‘s band Good Charlotte peform Tuesday in Calgary.
Richie’s lawyer declined to respond to requests for comment. But in a court filing, she said she intends to use defense expert Terence McGee, a doctor specializing in drug abuse, to challenge the prosecution’s evidence against Richie.
In fact, TMZ obtained a document that holds the key to Nicole Richie’s DUI defense – a claim the drug tests cops performed on her were bogus. Well, that’s one way to go.
A declaration, filed today by Shawn Chapman Holley, Nicole Richie‘s lawyer, says, “Dr. Terence McGee … will challenge the prosecutor’s scientific evidence and [his] conclusions.”
If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Richie – who pleaded not guilty – faces a minimum of four days in jail with three years of probation because it would be her second DUI offense.
Last month Nicole Richie, 25, told David Letterman on his show that she is “scared” to go to jail. Bu added that she is “willing to face whatever consequences come my way, and take responsibility for what I’ve done.”
Spotted driving the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway on December 11, Richie failed a field sobriety test and admitted to police that she’d smoked pot and taken Vicodin that evening.
She was previously convicted of a DUI in June 2003.