Britney Spears Pleads Guilty To Avoid Potential Jail Sentence

VENTURA, CA — Accused of driving drunk and high, Britney Spears on Monday pleaded guilty to a lesser reckless driving charge that will allow her to avoid jail time.

The 44-year-old pop star did not appear at the Ventura County courthouse Monday morning; her lawyer entered the plea on her behalf. Spears was sentenced to one day in jail — which she already served after she was arrested — along with one year of probation, a required DUI class and state-mandated fines.

Spears was charged with a single misdemeanor count of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and at least one drug, in connection with an incident on the 101 Freeway in March. Because she has no prior DUI history or a history of crashes, as well as a low blood-alcohol level, prosectors offered her a so-called "wet reckless" plea deal, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The offer is common especially for defendants who have independently shown motivation to address their problems and seek treatment, the district attorney’s office said. Spears recently completed a stint at a rehabilitation facility.

About a month after her March arrest, Spears voluntarily checked into the facility, CBS News reported. A representative for the singer at the time described the incident as "completely inexcusable," and something that could potentially be "the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney's life."

During the brief hearing Monday, Spears received summary probation, which is informal and doesn’t involve mandatory meetings with a parole officer. She temporarily yielded her Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights if she is pulled over, meaning she must automatically yield to searches and sobriety tests. At her lawyer's request, the judge ruled this would not apply to her home.

District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said after the hearing that Spears had taken “full responsibility,” but he emphasized that DUI is a “serious crime” and said it was essential that she follow the requirements agreed to in court, which include continued substance abuse treatment, weekly visits with a therapist and monthly visits with a psychiatrist.

“We do not want Miss Spears to reoffend,” Nasarenko said.

Spears' attorney, Michael A. Goldstein after the hearing said “I don’t think anybody’s happy about pleading guilty to anything, but under the circumstances, to get this behind her, I think everybody is pleased with the result."

“We appreciate the district attorney recognizing the positive steps that Britney is taking to help herself," he added.

Spears' arrest came after an emergency caller reported a black BMW 430i was driving fast and erratically on the southbound 101 Freeway near the Borchard Road exit in Newbury Park just before 9 p.m., a California Highway Patrol spokesman told KTLA.

CHP officers responded and located the BMW near Westlake Boulevard, close to the Los Angeles County line. Officers pulled the car over. Spears was driving and the only one in the car, the station reported.

Police dispatch audio obtained by Extra reveals that Spears was driving with no taillights, braking and swerving.

Spears “showed signs of impairment and submitted to a series of field sobriety tests.” She was arrested at the scene, booked in jail and released from custody at around 6 a.m. the following morning, according to KTLA.

Spears was arrested not far from where she lives, in the Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks.

In 2007, Spears was charged with misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving a vehicle without a license in connection to a crash in a Studio City parking lot, the Los Angeles Times reported. Those charges were dropped.

The singer was placed under a court-ordered conservatorship the next year. The legal arrangement saw her father and his lawyers control her personal and financial decisions until 2021, when it was dissolved amid a public legal battle.

Since then, she has married and divorced, and released a bestselling, tell-all memoir, “The Woman in Me.”

But she has largely retreated from the limelight, releasing very little music since her last full-length album in 2016. She posts frequently on Instagram, often showcasing impromptu dance numbers performed inside her home and elsewhere.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.