Charlie Sheen Charged With Three Crimes for Assaulting Wife

Feb. 8, 2010— -- Actor Charlie Sheen got hit not with two and a half charges, but three.

Sheen was charged Monday with three crimes including felony menacing following his Christmas Day assault on his wife Brooke Mueller. Sheen, the star of the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men," was also charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief.

Details of the case against the actor were not read in Aspen's Pitkin County District Court Monday, but the judge did lift a "no contact" portion of a mandatory protective order that kept Sheen from Mueller, allowing the two to leave the courthouse together. Sheen and Mueller married in 2008 and have twin sons.

Lawyers for Sheen and Mueller asked to have the order lifted; prosecutors did not object.

Sheen, 44, was arrested on Christmas Day for second-degree assault, menacing and criminal mischief after Mueller, 32, called 911 and tearfully choked, "My husband had me with a knife. I was scared for my life and he threatened me."

She described the knife as a "switchblade."

Sheen's attorney, Richard Cummins, filed a motion on Dec. 30 to dismiss the mandatory protective order, stating that Mueller and her attorney advised Cummins that they wanted it lifted.

"The protected person also wishes for the protection order to be terminated," read the document obtained by ABCNews.com.

In turn, the prosecutor filed a counter motion opposing the couple's request.

The next day, Cummins modified his request.

"Defendant respectfully requests that this court enter an order allowing for communication and cohabitation subject to Ms. Sheen obtaining a safety plan," the supplement read.

"Initially, they didn't want any of the restraining order," Mordkin said. "Then they said they only wanted to modify the portion of the order that doesn't allow them to communicate and have contact."