Two-time Oscar nominee Nick Nolte has been sentenced to three years probation as well as counselling and drug testing, after pleading no contest to a charge of driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop earlier this year.
The star, who was described by police as “drooling” and “completely out of it” on the night of his September 11 arrest for suspicion of drunk driving, was found to have the "date rape" drug GHB in his system. After his sentencing, however, Nick said that he had taken "a synergistic amino acid thing". "(My arrest) was kind of a godsend, a wake-up call," he said. "I've been wanting to get out from under this substance because I have been sober from 1989 to 1999."
Four days after he was detained, the 61-year-old actor “voluntarily entered” into a substance abuse treatment centre to “receive advice and counselling that he feels he needs,” said a spokesman at the time.
In addition to paying a $500 fine, the actor was also ordered to enroll in a 90-day safe driving course, undergo random drug and alcohol tests, and attend weekly drug counselling sessions as well as a 12-step anti-drug programme. The judge in the case warned that if he violates probation he would face jail time.
In exchange for his plea, the court dropped a second misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance.
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