Priestley Sentenced

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/07/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Jason Priestley was sentenced to five days in an alcohol treatment program and given three years' probation in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday. The ex-"Beverly Hills, 90210" star, 30, pleaded no contest to a charge of drunken driving related to a Dec. 3 high-speed incident in the Hollywood Hills in which he totaled his car. Chad Cook, 27, who was riding in the vehicle's passenger seat, broke a wrist in the crash, which reportedly occurred when Priestley's car veered off the road and smacked into a tree. At the time, Priestley told police that he was trying to avoid hitting a deer. Priestley originally faced a felony charge, which was reduced to the misdemeanor of driving under the influence with injury. (Had the felony charge been upheld, Priestley could have faced up to three years in state prison, if convicted.) Priestley did not appear before Judge Michael E. Pastor. The no-contest plea was entered by his attorney, Peter Knecht, who told reporters after the sentencing, "It worked out well, considering. I'm happy with the result, and so is he."