Robert Downey Is Drug-Free, Lawyer Says

After serving nearly a year in prison for cocaine possession, actor Robert Downey Jr. is drug-free and ready to consider film offers, his attorney, Robert Waters, said at a news conference Thursday.

Downey, 35, who was released from Corcoran State Prison on $5,000 bail Wednesday, is now voluntarily attending a drug rehab program and undergoing daily counseling, Waters said.

“He’s in great shape,” Waters said. “He’s been counseling other individuals while he’s been in prison. . . . I think he’s committed to a life of sobriety.”

The Oscar-nominated actor should have been released from the Bakersfield-area prison nearly four months ago, but remained in custody because Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence A. Mira erred in sentencing, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The state attorney general has 40 days to challenge the court’s ruling. If no challenge is filed, Downey will receive parole.

The state attorney general’s office Thursday refused to comment on Downey’s release or the possibility of filing a challenge to the ruling.

Responses to Appeal Delayed

In 1996, Downey pleaded no contest to charges of possession of cocaine, driving under the influence, possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

He was placed on probation, and after two violations he was sentenced in August 1999 to three years in prison.

But the judge did not specify whether Downey was to serve his felony and misdemeanor convictions concurrently or consecutively, according to the three-judge panel.

Now Mira, who last year told Downey that he had “no confidence” that he was committed to a drug-free life, must grant Downey credit for the 117 days he served beyond his sentence, Waters said.

Waters said he realized the judge’s error while reviewing court documents late last year, shortly after he was brought into the case by Downey’s original attorney, Robert Shapiro.

Downey could have been released sooner if it weren’t for delayed responses to Waters’ appeal from the state court and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

But, Waters said, there are no grounds for a civil suit.

“It’s a type of legal error that there is no remedy for,” he said.

“Who do you sue? The [state] Court of Appeals for acting slowly?”

Downey’s cocaine conviction stemmed from a June 23, 1996, incident in which a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy pulled over the actor’s pickup truck on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on suspicion of speeding.

Deputies said they smelled marijuana smoke, and when they searched the truck they found an unloaded revolver under one seat, four rounds of .38 caliber ammunition in the glove box, and small amounts of crack and powder cocaine, Valium and black tar heroin.

Downey’s urine tested positive for morphine/heroin, marijuana, Valium and cocaine.

About three weeks later, he wandered into a neighbor’s Malibu home and deputies found him on a child’s bed, apparently passed out.

Now, Waters said, his client is “looking forward to . . . putting this behind him and getting on with his life.”