Community Corner
Actor Pleads No Contest to Domestic Battery Charge
Lane Garrison, whose drunk driving caused the death of a BHHS student in 2006, gets probation, AA meetings and domestic violence classes.
Actor Lane Garrison—who served time in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a Beverly Hills High School student—pleaded no contest Friday to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from a run-in with his former girlfriend in April.
The 32-year-old former Prison Break cast member was immediately sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and ordered to attend 52 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and 52 domestic violence classes, according to defense attorney Harland Braun.
Garrison was also given credit for about 70 days he had already served in county jail following his arrest, Braun said.
Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Garrison, who had been awaiting trial, "wanted to get (the case) behind him," his lawyer said.
The case stemmed from an April 21 altercation with his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Mattingly.
Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Garrison was released on parole in April 2009 after serving half of a 40-month prison term for his May 2007 guilty plea to vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving under the influence causing injury, along with a misdemeanor count of providing alcohol to a minor. He also admitted an allegation of having a blood-alcohol level of .15 or higher.
Those charges stemmed from the death of 17-year-old Vahagn Setian, who was a passenger in the 2001 Land Rover that Garrison was driving when the SUV struck a tree in the 300 block of South Beverly Drive on Dec. 2, 2006.
Two other passengers, both 15-year-old girls, survived. Police said Garrison had a blood-alcohol content of .20—more than twice the legal limit—at the time of the crash.
Garrison met the teens at a grocery store, bought alcohol for them, followed them to a party and then drove them to another store later to buy more alcohol before crashing into the tree, according to prosecutors.
On the Fox drama series Prison Break, Garrison played the character Tweener. The Dallas native's other credits include the films Crazy and Shooter and an episode of the short-lived 2005 ABC series Night Stalker.
Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook.
