Halle Berry Charged With Misdemeanor In Hit And Run Case

Jet, April 17, 2000

Halle Berry got a break in her legal case involving her recent alleged hit and run encounter in West Hollywood when she recently surrendered to authorities, and was charged with a misdemeanor instead of a felony, and released.

Berry, 33, faces up to a year in jail and/or a $10,000 fine if convicted. If she'd been charged with a felony, she would have faced a possible three-year sentence in state prison.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office opted to go for the lesser charge. The department had been under criticism for taking so long to make a decision in the case that stemmed from the Feb. 23 accident on the Sunset Strip when Berry reportedly left the accident scene (JET, March 20).

The sheriff's station in West Hollywood told JET that Berry was driving a rented Chevy Blazer when she ran a red light and crashed into a car that was driven by Hetal Raythatha.

A spokesman for Berry told the L.A. Times that his client was "obviously pleased by the D.A.'s determination that felony charges should be rejected and are not justified in connection with this unfortunate traffic accident."

Attorneys for Raythatha vowed to press their civil suit against Berry.