Actor goes directly to jail after choking female movie exec at Sundance

Emile Hirsch - Into The Wild (2007)
Actor Emile Hirsch has been fined $4,750 and sent to jail for 15 days after choking Daniele Bernfeld, a Paramount executive attending the Sundance Film Festival.

Hirsch was accused of grabbing Bernfeld at a nightclub in Park City and putting her in a chokehold.

The actor will carry out a 15-day sentence as part of a plea deal agreed Monday and commit to 50 hours of community service. However, the short sentence was criticized by Bernfeld who had reportedly suffered long-term damage to her health following the incident where she thought she was going to die. She was also thrown to the ground while two men had to drag Hirsch away from her at the time of the assault.

Hirsch, star of "Into The Wild" was attending the premiere of "Ten Thousand Saints" back in January and had been intoxicated at the time he approached Bernfeld. The actor avoided a maximum prison sentence of 5 years and has been ordered to make a payment of restitution to the movie executive at a later date. The actor claimed he had no recollection of the attack and had checked into rehab a fortnight later.

Bernfeld was respectful to the Park City Police Department about their treatment of the incident but felt the plea deal was too lenient considering the trauma she had experienced.