Lane Garrison got a big break today when the judge ruled that the actor should get a psychiatric evaluation instead of sentencing him to hard time.
“We don’t have all the information,” Superior Court Judge Eldon Fox ruled on the vehicular manslaughter charge resulting from a car accident last Dec. 2 that left a 17-year-old Beverly Hills boy dead, People magazine reported. “I intend to remand Mr. Garrison today to the Department of Corrections for diagnostics.”
TMZ.com is reporting that the TV star’s lawyers’ request for a “diagnostic” — submitting Garrison to 90 days of psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is a suitable candidate for probation — was met with vehement opposition from the D.A.
Behind closed doors, the D.A. favored four years hard time instead. Which seems reasonable for someone that almost makes Lindsay Lohan look law-abiding.
Judge Fox said: “The fact that you may have some notoriety, I don’t really care.”
Garrison was remanded to the Sheriff’s Dept. and he will then be transported to the Dept. of Correction. When he left the courtroom, accompanied by his lawyers, Richard Hutton and Harland Braun, he was not cuffed and he kissed all his family members. He is expected back in court October 31.
Garrison pleaded guilty May 21 to vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and two other alcohol-related charges.
Along with his manslaughter plea, Garrison also admitted that he provided alcohol to minors and that he registered a blood alcohol level of over .15 the night of the crash. That’s a Pete Doherty-like level.
The actor, who grew up with Jessica Simpson, was driving his Land Rover SUV in Beverly Hills with three teenage passengers on Dec. 2 when the vehicle struck a tree at 11:52 p.m.
One passenger, Vahagn Setian, 17, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. A 15-year-old girl, also in the car, suffered a fractured pelvis and shattered arm. A second girl, also 15, was not seriously injured.
After the accident police also said that Garrison had cocaine in his system and more than twice the legal blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash.