No Short Probation For Sheen

A judge praised actor Charlie Sheen Monday for his progress in his personal battle against drugs, but denied the star's request to end his probation early. Correspondent Catherine Anaya of CBS station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles reports.

The 34-year-old actor's probation is scheduled to run until June 2000. The actor was first sentenced to two years probation in 1997 for battery on his girlfriend. The term was extended when he was hospitalized for a drug overdose last year.

"I want you to understand, I couldn't be more pleased with your effort," Malibu Municipal Judge Lawrence Mira told the star of Platoon and Wall Street.

But Mira explained that he could not end Sheen's probation because he had twice violated its terms by walking out of a drug treatment facility.

Sheen was convicted of beating his then-girlfriend in December 1996, and was placed on probation by Mira. But 18 months ago Sheen was hospitalized after accidentally taking an overdose of illegal drugs and his father, actor Martin Sheen, asked prosecutors to file probation violation charges against his son.

Mira extended Sheen's probation to the middle of 2000 and ordered him into a drug rehabilitation program. Sheen twice left the facility without permission in the early stages of his treatment.

Outside the court Monday, Sheen told reporters the judge's decision "does not bother me because (while) it might have been the court that got me into this program and this place in my life ... that is not what is keeping me here."

Sheen, dressed in a charcoal gray business suit, added that he had made a lot of changes in his life, "and I will continue to fight the good fight."

Mira scheduled another progress hearing for next March 27.