Love in trouble again
2005-08-11 07:52
Los Angeles - US rock diva Courtney Love, who narrowly escaped jail time earlier this year, was in hot water again on Wednesday when a judge ordered her to answer allegations she violated probation by using drugs.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin issued a bench warrant for Love's arrest, but agreed to hold it pending a hearing on August 19, which he ordered the 41-year-old widow of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain to attend.
"I'm certainly not happy with what's going on," Rubin said during a brief hearing, noting that he wanted a report from Love's drug counsellor.
The former frontwoman of Hole was sentenced to three years' probation in February for assaulting a female musician at the home of her former boyfriend and faces possible imprisonment if caught violating its terms, which include not using drugs.
The judge ordered the hearing after Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano wrote in court papers that Love had allegedly violated her probation by being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Outside the courtroom, the prosecutor said the allegation involved "some sort of narcotic" last month, but refused to specify what it was.
Love was taken to hospital by ambulance last month following a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel amid conflicting accounts over whether the incident involved a drug-related incident or a fainting spell, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"I can confirm that was the (same) date," Satriano said of the allegation and the incident at the hotel.
Reopens her rocky courtroom odyssey
The matter has been referred to city prosecutors for possible misdemeanour prosecution, Satriano said.
At next week's hearing, Judge Rubin will set another court date for a hearing to determine if Love violated probation, imposed after she pleaded no contest to assaulting a female musician with a whiskey bottle in a jealous rage at the home of Love's former boyfriend, Jim Barber.
On the same day, she was sentenced to 18 months' probation after admitting possessing the powerful painkiller drug oxycodone as well as a forged prescription when she was arrested after another altercation outside Barber's home in October 2003.
Love is now also accused of violating her probation in that case.
In a separate hearing on Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Judge Elden Fox, who accepted Love's guilty plea in the drugs case, issued - but held until next week - an arrest warrant for the beleaguered entertainer.
The judge ordered Love to appear before Judge Rubin on both allegations of violating probation.
In yet another case against Love, she pleaded guilty in May 2004 to a misdemeanour charge of being under the influence of cocaine and was sentenced to a drug rehabilitation programme.
The quiver pleas should have resolved more than 16 months of legal hell, but allegations that she may have violated probation reopens her rocky courtroom odyssey.