Screech has been sentenced to four months in jail and probation after his wild night filled with shenanigans and stabbings.
38-year-old Dustin “Screech” Diamond has been sentenced to four months in jail after he was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct over his part in a Christmas Day bar brawl in Wisconsin.
Judge Paul Malloy also sentenced Diamond to 15 months’ probation and ordered him to report to jail Sunday. Diamond was convicted earlier this month on two misdemeanor counts that stemmed from a Christmas Day barroom fight.
Diamond, appearing misty-eyed, left the courtroom without commenting. [AssociatedPress]
The whole situation started from an incident where Screech claimed he pulled the knife to protect his girlfriend from a mob of wild-eyed Screech fans, while witnesses testified that it was actually his girlfriend who initiated the fight. Schutz was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $500.
Other witnesses told the court the incident began when Schutz pushed a woman at the bar and grabbed another woman’s hand. [BBC]
Diamond’s testimony veered widely from the story presented by the prosecution’s nine witnesses, most of whom were cousins of 25-year-old Casey Smet, who suffered a minor stab wound during the altercation.
While the prosecution’s witnesses described Diamond and his fiancee, Amanda Schutz, as aggressors who were uninterested in the apology of Smet’s girlfriend after she accidentally bumped into them at the bar, Diamond said the bumping was intentional and repeated.
The group of cousins was trying to take pictures of him because they recognized him from television, he said. Diamond is best known for his role as the character Screech in the 90s sitcom Saved by the Bell.
When he and Schutz stood up to leave the bar, Diamond testified, the group swarmed to block their way and began violently attacking Schutz.
Diamond said he heard multiple “impact sounds” as the cousins hit his fiancee.
“I saw a tall guy holding her arms back, as if to keep her from defending herself,” he said. “As she had her arms being held back, she was being struck.”
He also said he witnessed someone choking Schutz.
We wish Screech luck on being able to rehabilitate himself in jail, and hopefully revitalize his acting career.
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