Brad Renfro in Broward jail on violation of probation charge

By Shannon O'Boye
Staff Writer
Posted February 1 2002

Brad Renfro turned himself in Thursday (31/01/02)on a violation of probation charge hoping to stay out of jail, but the judge declined to give him bond and had a deputy arrest him.

Renfro was pulled over Jan. 14 near his home in Knoxville, Tenn., and charged with driving without a license and public intoxication. The arrest was a violation of the two-year probation he received for trying to steal a $175,000, 45-foot yacht near Fort Lauderdale Beach in August 2000 while in town filming the movie Bully.

Broward Circuit Judge Ronald J. Rothschild, who said he would not deliver a lecture, told the grim-faced Renfro he was presumed innocent until proven guilty on the latest charges, but "when someone is on probation, they're different."

"The fact that you're back here accused of a crime is grounds to detain you," Rothschild said

When Renfro heard his fate, he signaled to his grandmother, JoAnne Renfro, to make a phone call for him. Then he emptied his pockets of a pack of Marlboros, a purple lighter and a passport and was taken away.

Renfro's attorney, Bart Heffernan, tried to get him committed to a juvenile facility, but the judge and prosecutor Sharon Mullane did not go for it. The actor will remain in the Broward County Jail at least until a Feb. 7 status conference. His trial date in Tennessee is scheduled for March 7.

Renfro's grandmother, who raised him, was in tears after the brief court hearing. She declined to discuss Renfro's legal woes but said she wished he could have come home with her.

Taken from Sun-sentinel