The Region - News from July 12, 1985

Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, star of the “Airwolf” television series, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fighting and was sentenced to three years’ informal probation. Vincent, 40, was charged with misdemeanor battery for twice attacking Christopher Harry Lee, 35, during a party at a Malibu home last November, Deputy Dist. Atty. Eloise Gillott said. But in a plea bargain, Vincent was allowed to plead guilty in Malibu Municipal Court to the fighting count, a charge that Gillott said “carried a lesser stigma in the public’s eye.” Vincent was sentenced by Commissioner Richard Brand, who also fined him $85. Earlier this year, Vincent admitted hitting a man in a brawl at a Malibu bar, but said he did so in self-defense after the man, who was reportedly drunk, grabbed him from behind. He was acquitted of charges in that case.