Jail overcrowding frees Rodriguez after 1 day
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES » Actress Michelle Rodriguez was released from jail early, after serving less than a day of a 60-day jail sentence, authorities said yesterday.
Rodriguez, 27, was sentenced for violating probation terms after her drunken-driving arrest in Hawaii. She was released Thursday from a Los Angeles County jail due to overcrowding, authorities said.
The former star of ABC's "Lost" still must serve 30 days of community service and remain on probation until June 2009, a spokeswoman for the city attorney's office said.
"Our prosecutors are not happy about it, but that is the sad reality of our overcrowded jails," said spokeswoman Contessa Mankiewicz.
Calls to Rodriguez's attorney and publicist were not immediately returned yesterday.
"Michelle's happy with the way things turned out," Rodriguez's friend, designer Anand John, told People magazine in a story posted yesterday on its Web site. "She knows this wasn't a literal get-out-of-jail-free card. Michelle's taken responsibility for the past, and now she's ready to focus on her career."
The actress served four days in jail in Hawaii last month after pleading guilty to drunken driving. The Dec. 1 arrest violated a three-year probation term she was given in Los Angeles County in 2004.