Alycia gets her day in court
"I just want to say I'm so glad this is over," said former CBS anchor Alycia Lane, as she left a New York City courthouse this morning. "And I want to thank all of those who supported me and believed in me. And I just look forward to moving on with my life now."
At the hearing (and as we reported would happen) Lane's attorney David Smith and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Michael Greenman agreed to an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or ACD. It's essentially a six-month-long slow dismissal of her case. Our Feb. 8 report suggested the six-months was probation, but it is not. There is no court supervision, or reporting to court, during the six-month period, and so long as Lane doesn't get in any more legal trouble in New York, at least until September, her case will be formally declared dead.
Lane's settlement includes one day of community service. Smith submitted a letter from Philadelphia's Project H.O.M.E. shelter that Lane had already spent a day volunteering at the homeless welfare organization. Who knew? A message left for Project H.O.M.E. director Sister Mary Scullion, to ask about Lane's civic service, was not immediately returned today.
Lane, of course, was charged with hitting a police officer in New York City on Dec. 16, 2007.
Asked what was next for her, Lane said, "I don't know yet." Her civil lawyer, Paul Rosen, however, said she "has so many offers coming in now."
On the legal front, though, this is it for these charges, which were changed at today's hearing because the court found the officer's scratches didn't rise to the level of a felony charge.
"Alycia continues to maintain that she is innocent of these charges," said Smith. "The felony charge of assaulting an officer was rightly dismissed. We are confident that as this goes forward Alycia will succeed in her life. It is important that everybody knows that she is not on probation. She does not need to return to court and this matter will end in a complete dismissal -- with the arrest and prosecution being a nullity, as if they had never existed."
And that lawsuit against CBS, which fired her after the incident? It's proceding "full speed ahead," Rosen said.
The four-minute hearing drew NYC and Philly media, as well as celebrity website TMZ. The lovely ex-anchor was clad in somber black, and beau Chris Booker took the day off from his radio show; he was there, too. So were Lane's parents. Afterward, Lane and family were quickly ushered by private security into a black Cadillac Escalade.
As for Booker, Q102 program director Rick Vaughn claims the entire Booker show asked for this day off weeks ago. But station sources told us he was expected to work as late as 5 am this morning, just an hour before his show.
Lane, we're told, has hired big time PR man Matthew Hiltzik to repair her image. Hiltzik, who we believe was the guy who gave us the stink eye as we waited to speak with Smith, handled Don Imus during HoGate and has also worked with Hillary Clinton and another famous CBS anchor, Katie Couric.
However, Smith denied Hiltzik is working for Lane. And Hiltzik did not immediately return an e-mail asking both for confirmation that he's working with Lane, and whether he was in fact, the person staring us down.
We asked CBS3 for a reaction to the Alycia outcome: "As we have said previously, we made a decision in January that was not based solely on the New York incident of December 16 but rather on a series of judgments made by Alycia when she was working at CBS 3. As we did then, we continue to wish her the best in all of her future endeavors," said CBS3 President Michael Colleran in a statement.