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Crime & Safety

Actor Pleads Not Guilty in Beverly Hills Battery Case

Lane Garrison allegedly slapped his ex-girlfriend as they exited the elevator of a Beverly Hills apartment building.

Actor Lane Garrison, who is on parole for a , pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor battery count for  at a Beverly Hills apartment building.

The new charge against the 31-year-old former Prison Break cast member carries up to a year in county jail and a $2,000 fine, according to the District Attorney's Office. It could also lead to the revocation of his parole.

He is due back in court July 11 for a pretrial hearing and remains in custody.

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Garrison is accused of hitting Ashley Mattingly on April 21 as they exited an elevator in an apartment building on the 300 block of North Palm Drive, according to Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Marks. He was arrested about 2:30 p.m. the next day and has remained jailed since then.

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.

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The 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 it struck a tree on 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. Garrison's parole was set to expire in a week. But a judge could decide at a hearing next month that the Mattingly case constituted a parole violation, which could result in jail time in the manslaughter case. 

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