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Home > Archive > Politics and Medicine > August 2005 > Justice can be bought, End of discussion.
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Justice can be bought, End of discussion.
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| Payout to save Crowe from assault charges
Adam Harvey in New York
27aug05
CRIMINAL charges against actor Russell Crowe are likely to be dropped
following a payout by the actor to hotel clerk Nestor "Josh" Estrada.
Sources from the Manhattan District Attorney's office and the legal
teams involved in the settlement expect assault charges to be
dismissed.
Crowe was charged with several assault offences after hurling a
telephone at Mr Estrada, 28, the night concierge of Soho's trendy
Mercer Hotel. The charges carried the unlikely possibility of jail time
for Crowe.
Lawyers for Mr Estrada and Crowe have talked daily since Crowe threw a
telephone at Mr Estrada in the lobby of the hotel in the early hours of
June 6. Crowe said he was upset that he could not phone his wife,
Danielle.
Crowe's lawyers were keen to settle as quickly as possible because any
criminal conviction in the US would jeopardise the actor's right to
work there.
No civil papers were filed against Crowe. Claims by a UK tabloid of a
$A15 million settlement proved laughably inaccurate. The real figure is
closer to $A130,000, say those close to the matter.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office has always said it was
unlikely to pursue criminal charges against Crowe if Mr Estrada refused
to testify against the actor.
Crowe was due to appear in a Manhattan court on September 14 to face
charges of assault and possession of a weapon (the telephone).
He claimed he lost his temper because he was unable to make a
late-night phone call to his wife, Danielle.
The Mercer's security tape shows Crowe barging out of the lift into the
hotel lobby, where he berates Mr Estrada before hurling a phone and
vase at the frightened worker.
The telephone hit Mr Estrada on his cheek, cutting him.
Neither Mr Estrada nor his lawyer, Eric Franz, were willing to comment
last night.
A few days after the phone-throwing incident a contrite and nervous
Crowe explained his actions on comedian Dave Letterman's late night TV
talkshow.
"This is possibly the most shameful situation I've ever gotten myself
in in my life, and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life," Crowe
told Letterman at the time.
He also explained why he was so desperate to speak to his wife.
"I'm trying to fill my basic obligations to my wife who needs to know
that I'm at home, I'm in bed, I haven't had too much to drink and that,
primarily important, I'm alone," Crowe said.
"These are questions that every wife has the right to have answered
every night, and that's my duty."
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