Los Angeles - Kiefer Sutherland, the star of the television series 24, has pleaded no contest to drunken driving charges. Tuesday's plea was entered under a deal between the actor's attorneys and prosecutors, news reports said. Under it, Sutherland, 40, will avoid trial and a potential 18-month prison sentence for drunken driving and violating his probation in a 2004 case of driving under the influence. Instead, prosecutors are recommending 48 days in jail.
Sutherland, who won an Emmy Award last year for portraying counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer in 24, was arrested two weeks ago in Los Angeles and charged with misdemeanor drunk driving after police said they stopped him for performing an illegal U-turn and he failed a breathalyzer test
His sentencing is scheduled for December 21, which will be his 41st birthday, in Los Angeles.
Before his September 25 arrest, Sutherland, the son of actor Donald Sutherland and star of such movies as The Lost Boys and The Three Musketeers, had had three other alcohol-related run-ins with the law. Besides the 2004 case, he also pleaded guilty to reckless driving in 1989 and 1993.
His plea in the latest case is not a guilty plea but an agreement not to challenge the prosecutors' case against him.
