Former Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore agreed to plea guilty to an attempted assault charge in a bargain that will sentence him to 10 days of community service and participation in a counseling program for batterers, the Associated Press has reported.
Pastore was originally charged with two counts of assault, attempted assault, and harassment after his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Regina, accused him of attacking her during an argument last April. Regina claimed that Pastore punched her in the head, seized her by the hair, and slammed her head into the gearshift of the car in which they were quarreling.
Though Pastore rejected the plea bargain when it was first offered to him in June, he had time to reconsider before his September 26 trial date. The emergency triple-bypass heart surgery he underwent this summer had a lot to do with his decision, Pastore explained. "I want this to go away. What do you think, I want to die of a heart attack?" he said as he left a Manhattan courthouse after yesterday's hearing.
Pastore's bargain is still awaiting final approval from the presiding judge. By accepting the deal, the actor will avoid a conviction that could have sent him to jail for up to a year.
Comments (2)
I only know this guy from "Repo Men, Stealing For A Living", I never heard of him in any other shows and I never even knew about him and this assault thing.
I believe that this plea bargin that will keep Mr Patore out of jail is a contributing factor to him agreeing to it. <br />
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Yes we live in a world were the "rich and famous" get treaded different then others, but that is the way it goes. We, the rest of the world knows that had he been any "Joe" off the street this may have turned out a little different. <br />
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Would he have been even giving the choice of a community service for assalting a woman had he not been who he is?