Robert Downey Ordered to Spend 3 Extra Days in Jail

A Malibu judge Thursday ordered Robert Downey Jr. to spend three extra days in jail to make up for the time he was allowed out to finish work on a film.

The judge also revoked the agreement that permitted Downey’s brief releases.

Downey was sentenced in December to six months in jail for using drugs and failing to take a mandatory drug test, a violation of a 1996 probationary sentence for three arrests on charges of possessing heroin and cocaine.

Shortly after that sentence was handed down, Downey’s attorneys secured a court agreement allowing him to finish any ongoing work on films, even if a probation violation placed him behind bars.

Without such a clause, the attorneys argued, Downey would be unable to work in film because movie insurers would refuse to cover him, fearing that a production would be jeopardized if Downey went back to jail.

That agreement allowed Downey three days of freedom to do voice-overs for a movie he began before he was sent to the county jail--a privilege some, including Sheriff Sherman Block, said was unfair special treatment for a celebrity.

At Block’s request, an appellate court eventually barred Downey’s release for a fourth day of film work.

In his ruling Thursday, Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence J. Mira defended Downey’s out-of-jail excursions, saying neither the actor nor the media should interpret the arrangement as “special treatment.”

“In my judgment these orders were issued for good cause,” Mira said. “These were not social visits.”

But Mira also cautioned Downey that no such arrangement would be offered if he violates parole again. In that case, the judge said, Downey should expect a harsher sentence.

“This is really the last opportunity you have to rehabilitate,” Mira said. “If you violate probation . . . you’re going to prison. I want you to understand that.”

After he is released from jail in early April--a stint shortened by good behavior--Downey will enter a 120-day residential substance abuse treatment program as ordered by Mira.

In addition to continued drug testing, Mira ordered the actor to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and find a male sponsor with at least 10 years of sobriety who has also suffered with multiple addictions.