Downey Free, But In Seclusion

A day after being released from prison, actor Robert Downey Jr. had his first full day of freedom Thursday in a secluded, sober-living environment, his lawyer said. He had been serving time for drug violations.

An appeals court ruled Wednesday that Downey had served enough time to fulfill his three-year sentence, saying he should get more credit for time served in rehabilitation. He was released on $5,000 bail.

"He's en route to an undisclosed, secluded location," said Robert Waters, the actor's attorney. "He will be in a sober-living environment, but not a specific program at this point. He'll be living as though he's on parole."

Waters planned a news conference Thursday to discuss his client's release. Downey, 34, was not scheduled to attend.

Downey was jailed after he admitted during a probation hearing that he was missing scheduled drug tests. In August 1999, Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira sentenced him to three years in prison for violating his probation.

Under Mira's original sentence, Downey would have been eligible for release Nov. 2. But the appeals court said that the time served was not calculated correctly, and he could go free immediately.

Downey was released during the middle of the afternoon from a drug treatment section of the prison at Corcoran, said Bob Martinez, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections.

In a 25-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the California Second District Court of Appeal cited an error in computing Downey's sentence that failed to adequately credit him for time served in drug rehabilitation.

"When those additional time credits are added in, it is obvious appellant has more than served his sentence," the court's opinion said.

The court also firmly upheld the action of Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira, who sentenced Downey to three years in state prison after he violated probation by using drugs. Downey, 34, who had spent 53 days in a drug rehab center, admitted during a probation hearing that he was missing scheduled drug tests.

"Nothing in the record suggests...that the trial court's sentence choice was influenced by media criticism that the trial court was 'being too soft' on appellant," the court said.

"Its determination that a prison term was required might reflect the same frustration that any other judicial officer might have felt, and the decision is one any other judicial officer might well have made under the same circumstances; it reflects no personal animus toward appellant," the appeals ruling continued.

The judges cited Mira's statement at the Aug. 5, 1999, sentencing in Malibu that he was trying to "maybe prevent him from eventually killing himself or someone else."

"I don't care who you are," the judge had told Downey. "What I care is there is a life to be saved from drugs, and there's no good reason you can give me that you can't get that done."

owney's lawyers petitioned the appeals court, claiming that Mira failed to indicate whether the felony sentence would run concurrently or consecutively with misdemeanor counts that placed him in rehabilitation. As a result, they said, he was not given proper credit for time served.

"He's served a year, and he should have been out in February," attorney Ross Nabatoff told the court at a hearing last week. "This is a sad tale."

The son of film director Robert Downey earned an Oscar nomination for his work in the title role in Chaplin, the 1992 screen biography of the famed comedian. Other film credits include Less Than Zero, Natural Born Killers,One Night Stand, Two Girls and a Guy and U.S. Marshals.

The actor's legal troubles date to June 1996 when he was stopped for speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway and authorities found cocaine, heroin and a pistol in his vehicle.

A month later he was found passed out on a child's bed in a neighbor's home. Three days later, he was arrested for leaving a recovery center.