Simon Baker has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol, but avoided a conviction.
Simon Baker was arrested
The 'Mentalist' actor was arrested in the early hours of the morning of 20 July after police spotted his car driving erratically in the Byron Bay area of Australia where he lives, and he appeared at Mullumbimby Local Court for sentencing on Wednesday (11.09.24), a week after pleading guilty to charge of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit.
According to local news reports, Magistrate Kathy Crittenden noted the 55-year-old star was "extremely remorseful" for his actions and unlikely to drive after drinking again as she released him on a nine-month good behaviour bond. Magistrates in the country have discretion not to record a conviction against first-time offenders.
She told the court she had received four character references about Simon's contributions to the community, his remorse, and his actions being out of character.
She said: "The court has little difficulty in finding that Mr Baker is remorseful for his offending and it is unlikely he will offend again,
The 'Devil Wears Prada' actor was arrested during the worldwide Microsoft outage, which meant police systems were offline and a breath test couldn't be completed.
The magistrate said: "Ordinarily police would've proceeded with a breath analysis but they had to use the old-fashioned sobriety test."
Cops observed the actor was unsteady on his feet and smelt of alcohol, and he admitted he had consumed four glasses of wine at a dinner from 6am.
The magistrate said: "(Mr. Baker) was very polite and co-operative ... extremely remorseful for his actions."
Simon had since completed a traffic offenders' rehabilitation programme.