Drunk-Driving 'Lost' Actress Chooses Jail

Michelle Rodriguez, co-star of the hit ABC series, Lost has changed her plea to guilty to charges of drunk driving in Hawaii. For sentencing, she opted to pay a fine and spend five days in jail rather than perform 240 hours of community service.

Rodriguez, who plays Ana Lucia Cortez on JJ Abrams' smash hit TV series, was charged after she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in December of last year. Co-incidentally, her co-star Cynthia Watros was arrested just minutes later in a separate incident of driving under the influence. Watros' blood-alcohol level was reportedly 0.10, while Rodriguez registered a 0.17 blood-alcohol level.

The five day jail term was issued by Kaneohe District Judge James Dannenberg after Michelle Rodriguez turned down Judge Dannenberg's offer for community service. As well as the five days she will spend in the Oahu Community Correctional Centre, Rodriguez was also fined $162. Reuters reported that Rodriguez appeared to be "chipper but probably nervous".

E Online quoted Michelle Rodriguez's attorney, Steve Barta, as saying "I would suspect that because she has a hard time even going out for a meal without being intruded upon for an autograph or photograph, it's really difficult for her to do community service."

In the case of Cynthia Watros, she pled guilty to the charges and received a $312 dollar fine, an order to undergo an alcohol assessment, a revoking of her driver's lisence for 90 days, and 14 hours of counseling. Rodriguez had decided to take the case to court, where she was found guilty.

This is by no means Michelle Rodriguez's first run-in with the law. In 2004, Rodriguez pled no contest to a total of three charges ranging from hit-and-run to drunk driving while in Los Angeles, which garnered her a thee year probation stint and a three month alcohol program. Reuters reports that since Rodriguez violated that probation, "The Los Angeles City Attorney is reportedly seeking to have the probation revoked, a move that could send Rodriguez to jail for more than 16 months."

As well as the previous incidents in Los Angeles, Michelle Rodriguez has had her fair share of problems in Hawaii, where Lost is filmed. She was stopped for speeding three separate times in 2005, leading to a total of $854.

Apart from playing Ana Lucia on Lost, Michelle Rodriguez has also appeared movies such as BloodRayne, S.W.A.T., Blue Crush, Resident Evil, The Fast and the Furious and Girlfight.

[Additional Sources: Reuters, E Onine]

- Doug Pendrell