Singer Love Sentenced to Drug Rehabilitation

Singer Courtney Love was sentenced Tuesday to a drug rehabilitation program in a case stemming from her alleged attempt to break into a former boyfriend’s home.

Love, 40, pleaded guilty two months ago to a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance during the alleged break-in attempt last October at the home of Jim Barber.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Schnegg ordered Love to enroll in a drug rehabilitation program for at least six months and to avoid alcohol and illegal drugs and stay out of places where either is sold, except for work-related engagements, for 18 months.

She will be subject to random drug tests.

Deputy City Atty. Jerry Baik said the sentence, negotiated under a plea agreement, was the best possible outcome for the singer. He said that although Love is actually on probation for 36 months, she could petition the court to dismiss the case after 18 months.

“This is funny,” Love told reporters outside the courthouse. “I mean, it’s not funny at all. It’s profound. It’s deep. But I wanted to know if you think I can do it. I think I can do it. Can you do it? Can we all do it? OK.”

According to her lawyer, Michael Rosenstein, Love was recently released from a New York hospital, where she had been taken for gynecological problems.

She was taken to the hospital just hours after a court commissioner in Los Angeles issued a warrant for the singer’s arrest July 9, when she missed her arraignment on a felony charge of using a bottle to attack a 32-year-old woman at a home in the Wilshire district.

Love surrendered on the warrant to Los Angeles police last week and was released on $150,000 bail.

Love is scheduled to appear in Beverly Hills Superior Court on Thursday on unrelated charges of illegal possession of prescription painkillers.

She also faces misdemeanor assault charges in New York.

*

Associated Press contributed to this report.