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Comedian Rip Torn Denied Probation in Bank Break-In

By Jason Beahm on August 13, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

You get drunk and break into a bank while armed and suddenly judges just won't cut you a break.

So Rip Torn has learned after a judge denied probation Wednesday. Torn, 79, an Emmy-winning actor with roles in "Men in Black," "Dodgeball," "30 Rock," and "The Larry Sanders Show," had hoped to enter a two-year program that would lead to all charges being dropped after a successful completion. He had no prior criminal record. Litchfield Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio found that the allegations against Torn were far to serious for him to qualify for probation under the program called accelerated rehabilitation.

However, prosecutors dropped a felony burglary charge as there was no evidence that Torn intended to commit a crime. Apparently Rip Torn went on quite a bender the night of the incident, drinking all night and then driving to a Salisbury bank which he mistook for his own home. The bank is in a house-like buidling nearby his home. Two hours after being arrested, Torn blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.203, over two and a half times the legal limit, the AP reports. Torn has said that he remembers nothing from that night. He has competed a two month inpatient rehab and over five months of outpatient couseling.

Felony burglary requires that the perprtrator intends to commit burglary. It's one of the rare times when getting wasted can actually help your legal cause, not that we would advise it.

Torn pleaded not guilty to trespassing, carrying of a weapon while intoxicated, criminal mischief and carrying a weapon without a permit. Torn's attorney has indicated that they will seek a plea deal to keep him out of prison. "This is embarrassing. Mr. Torn likes to be known for the 'Men in Black' movies and the good positive things he's done in his life, not this. So I think that in and of itself is a deterrent," Torn's attorney, A. Thomas Waterfall said the AP reports.

Since then, Torn has completed a two-month intensive inpatient alcohol treatment program and five months of intensive outpatient counseling.

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