Sheen: Court on Monday, on Set Tuesday
March 15, 2010 — -- Before he could get back on set, Charlie Sheen had to go through a different drama: court.
The actor appeared at an arraignment hearing in an Aspen, Colo., courtroom today to plead not guilty to felony and two misdemeanor charges stemming from his Christmas Day arrest for allegedly assaulting wife Brooke Mueller.
Sheen looked calm and confident upon his arrival at the courthouse, flashing a peace sign to swarming papparazzi. His lawyer, Richard Cummins, entered the plea. A trial date has been set for July 21.
The actor's court date came one day before he's due back on the set of his hit CBS sitcom, "Two and a Half Men." Sheen's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, said last week that Sheen would resume shooting the show in Los Angeles March 16.
Last month, Rosenfield declared that Sheen had voluntarily entered a rehab facility -- for the third time in his career -- "as a preventative measure." He didn't specify why the actor was seeking treatment (online wags dubbed the stint "prehab"). At the same time, Mueller checked into a separate rehab center, but left a few days later after her counselors agreed she was fit to live at home as long as experts monitored her.
"Brooke's recovery efforts have been superb," her attorney, Yale Galanter, told People magazine on Feb. 27. "She has been able to interact with her twin sons Bob and Max which has been instrumental in her recovery and ability to take the rehab team home with her. She is thrilled to be back in her own house."
Sheen hasn't had an easy couple of months since his Dec. 25 arrest. In February, his Mercedes was stolen and found overturned in a ravine, 300 to 400 feet down a cliff near his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home.
Sheen, 44, was arrested on Christmas Day in Aspen, Colo. 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."
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