SHEEN’S PLEA DEAL SMOKED OUT

If a plea agreement between an Aspen, CO prosecutor and Charlie Sheen becomes undone, the production start date for Two and a Half Men could be delayed, the New York Post reported today (Thursday). The show is due to begin production on the 2010-11 season in mid-August. On Wednesday, the Aspen News reported that the agreement broke down over terms of the “Useful Public Service Program,” under which Sheen would have been allowed to leave jail each day to act as an adviser to Theatre Aspen, a local community theater. However, under rules of the release, Sheen, reportedly a heavy smoker, would not have been permitted to smoke (the theater prohibits smoking) and would have been required to follow other jail rules, including eating only meals provided by the jail. Another work release program, intended for locals with existing jobs, allows them to go to work each day and only bars them from using drugs or alcohol. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said that Sheen did not qualify for the less-strict rules because he does not have a job in Aspen. Sheen’s attorney, Yale Galanter, in an interview with the Associated Press, accused Aspen authorities of attempting “to set him up for failure” by putting him in the stricter program. Sheen is due to return to court on July 12.