Actor Emile Hirsch is due back in a Utah court Monday on accusations he put a studio executive in a chokehold at a nightclub during the Sundance Film Festival.
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The Into the Wild star was charged with third degree felony aggravated assault and misdemeanour intoxication after he reportedly attacked Paramount Pictures executive Daniele Bernfeld at the event.
Hirsch apologized to Bernfeld for what he had done, and restitution will be determined later, Volmer said. The actor said in court that he still doesn’t remember what happened but took responsibility for drinking an enormous amount of alcohol and putting himself in that position. Law enforcement confirms Emile and the witnesses were both highly intoxicated.
At the hearing, Summit County Attorney Robert Hilder noted that Hirsch has been sober since the incident and has expressed his remorse. He was told the charges would be dropped if he completed his sentence.
Hopefully Hirsch will be able to complete his sentence and put this unfortunate event behind him!
That night, slurring his words and struggling to balance, Hirsch said he had three or four drinks.
What motivated Hirsch to attack Bernfeld that night remains unclear.
The only person not pleased with the sentence was Bernfeld, who thought the deal was “bare minimum” and called for Hirsch to be punished more.
A statement issued via her attorney to the Associated Press reads: “It took two people to pull him off me, and if not for their intervention, the attack would have continued”.
Hirsch has since struck a plea deal with prosecutors, who agreed to downgrade the charge to misdemeanour assault in exchange for the jail term.
Hirsch was at Sundance for the premiere of the drama “Ten Thousand Saints“.
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As well as “Into the Wild”, the actor also appeared in the U.S. Navy SEAL drama “Lone Survivor”, about a disastrous 2005 military operation in Afghanistan.
