Charlie Sheen Possible Plea Deal Delayed for a Month

June 7, 2010— -- A hearing on a possible plea deal for Charlie Sheen in his domestic abuse case in Colorado has been delayed until next month, according to the Associated Press. Lawyers met Monday at the courthouse, with prosecutors saying they needed more time to work out the agreement.

Sheen, had been expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault today in exchange for prosecutors dropping more serious charges. Sheen, 44, had been charged with second-degree assault, menacing and criminal mischief in a case involving a domestic dispute with wife Brooke Mueller on Christmas Day in Aspen, Colo.

The sentence had been expected for Sheen to teach by day and report to prison at night.

An attorney for Sheen's wife, Yale Galanter, told The Associated Press today that Sheen's plea deal would have called for him to serve a 30-day jail sentence and three months probation. During his jail term, Sheen would be released during the day to work at Theatre Aspen, a local theater company.

Pitkin County Chief Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin didn't elaborate on the plea deal delay.

According to Theatre Aspen's Paige Price, given his gig on CBS' "Two and a Half Men," Sheen is likely to teach a class that focuses on TV acting.

"Charlie would most likely do a separate class that people would be invited to," she said. "It would be open to anyone with acting experience. I'd imagine we'd want him to do a workshop on acting for the camera."

Though she anticipates Sheen's class will attract a lot of potential students, Price asserted it won't be a free-for-all. The class, which will likely run two to three hours long, will cater to those serious about acting, not Sheen's celebrity.

"I want it to be a meaningful class," she said. "I have no interest in it being a sideshow."

According to California defense attorney Dana Cole, Sheen's expected 30 days in jail is standard for his offense, considering he hasn't been convicted of assault before. But he probably couldn't expect a day release from prison to teach acting if he were not a celebrity.

"If he did pull a knife on her [as Mueller claimed in her 911 call] 30 days would not be an unusual sentence," Cole said. "But one can't think of a situation where an inmate is allowed to teach theater groups by day."

Last week, Sheen, the highest-paid actor on TV, reached an agreement with the Colorado prosecutor. He originally pleaded not guilty to all the charges at an arraignment hearing in March and had been set to go to trial next month.

Since his arrest last year, Sheen has worked to reconcile with Mueller, rebuild their family -- they have one-year-old twin sons Bob and Max -- and repair his public image.

Last month, Sheen signed on for two more years of his successful sitcom, putting an end to a long salary dispute and rumors that he wanted out to focus more on film.

Charlie Sheen's Difficult Year

Complicating matters were Sheen's own legal troubles. At a hearing in February, the judge lifted 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.

Later that month, Sheen took time off from his hit television show to voluntarily enter a rehab facility -- for the third time in his career -- "as a preventative measure," according to his rep Stan Rosenfield.

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.

Mueller was charged with a DUI in 1996 and cocaine possession in 2001.

Sheen's latest troubles stem from a Christmas Eve spat that turned ugly during the early hours of Dec. 25.

In an audio recording of a 911 call, a woman who identifies herself as Mueller tells the dispatcher that her husband threatened her with a knife and added, "I thought I was going to die for one hour."

"My husband had me with a knife," she told the 911 operator. " I was scared for my life and he threatened me." She described the knife as a "switchblade."

When asked her husband's name, she waits before admitting "It's Charlie Sheen," and starts crying.

The actor was arrested and spent the better part of Christmas Day in jail. After posting an $8,500 bond, Sheen was released from jail that evening.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.