Judge orders evaluation of "Prison Break" actor

Judge orders evaluation of "Prison Break" actor


www.chinaview.cn 2007-08-03 21:36:08 Print


Actor Lane Garrison (L) and attorney Harland Braun (R) leave the Beverly Hills Superior Court in Beverly Hills, California March 8, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)



BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Former "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison was ordered Thursday to undergo a 90-day evaluation to help a judge decide his sentence after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving in a crash that killed a teenager.

Garrison, 27, will undergo a "diagnostic" by parole officers and psychologists in a prison before returning for an Oct. 31 appearance before Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox.

Garrison was at the wheel of a 2001 Land Rover on Dec. 2 when he lost control and slammed into a tree. The crash killed Vahagn Setian, a Beverly Hills High School student who would have been 18 on Wednesday. Two other passengers, both 15-year-old girls, survived.

He apologized to Setian's family during the court proceeding.

"I relive that night every day and I think about the bad decision I made that day. All I can say to you is, `I'm so sorry,'" he said.

Garrison had a blood-alcohol content of 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving, and was under the influence of cocaine, according to police.

About a dozen of the victim's friends and relatives were in court Thursday, all wearing T-shirts with Setian's picture on the front and the James Dean saying "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today" on the back.

Garrison pleaded guilty in May to one count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, one count of driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 percent or higher, and a misdemeanor of providing alcohol to a minor.

(Agencies)