Earlier this afternoon, Kiefer Sutherland, pleaded guilty(via his lawyer) to DUI charges related to his arrest last month. Sutherland was sentenced to a total of 48 days in prison, to be served by July 1,2008. Kiefer will also have to undergo an alcohol education class and weekly therapy. It doesn’t look like the sentence will effect 24, as his sentencing (and first 18 days in jail) begin during the show’s holiday hiatus in December. Full details from AP below:

Kiefer Sutherland pleaded no contest Tuesday in his drunken driving case and will begin serving a 48-day jail sentence while his Fox TV drama “24″ begins its
winter production break in December.

Sutherland agreed to serve 30 days for driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 per cent, as well as 18 days for violating his probation for a 2004 drunken driving case, according to court records.

The actor was not in the courtroom and his lawyer, Blair Berk, entered the plea agreement. A second misdemeanour charge, driving under the influence, was dropped. The charges stemmed from a traffic stop in Los Angeles last month.

As part of the arrangement, Sutherland must also enrol in an 18-month alcohol-education class and attend weekly alcohol-therapy sessions for six months.

“I’m very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I’m deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on ‘24′ and at 20th Century Fox,” Sutherland said in a statement.
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Carly Pope, best known for her lead role in WB’s Popular, is the latest in a series of cast additions for 24’s 7th season. The Hollywood Reporter had this to say about her character:

She will play Samantha Roth, the girlfriend of the president’s (Cherry Jones) son who might be connected to his disappearance.

So it looks like we can add missing first son to the list of spoilers for the new season. Is anyone else starting to lose track of all the cast additions? Talk about
starting from scratch after a bad year.

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