'Pulp Fiction' screenwriter back behind bars, no longer tweeting

“Pulp Fiction” screenwriter Roger Avary won’t be tweeting again any time soon, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department official said Monday.

Avary likely will serve out the remainder of his year-long sentence for a fatal drunken driving accident in the county jail instead of a lower-security work furlough program, said Sheriff’s spokesman Ross Bonfiglio. He’s scheduled to be released in July 2010, Bonfiglio said.

Until last week, Avary had been permitted to leave the furlough program daily to work at a production office, where he sent out Twitter messages about strip searches, lock-downs and talks with gang bangers, officials said.

On Thursday, after The Times published reports about the short messages, Avary was transferred to county jail. The tweets played a role in the decision, Bonfiglio said, but probation officials also had “security issues.”

“He really messed up," Bonfiglio said. “He could have done nine months out of a year sentence, and not even in lock up for killing someone. Now he is going to do the remainder of that time in county jail.”

Avary, 44, pleaded guilty in August to drunken driving in a January 2008 accident that killed passenger Adreas Zini, 34, of Modena, Italy. Avary’s wife, Gretchen, was also seriously injured when Avary lost control of his Mercedes and slammed into a telephone pole on a rural Ojai road.

Both prosecutor Michael Lief and defense attorney Mark Werksman said it was not unusual that Judge Edward Brodie had agreed at the sentencing hearing to screen Avery for the work furlough program.

Inmates who have a job and haven’t been convicted of a violent offense are generally eligible for the program if they face more than 30 days in jail, both attorneys said.

Lief said he asked Brodie to send Avary to prison for six years and eight months. But the judge, citing Avary’s lack of criminal background and community standing, gave him a year in county jail.

“The court gave him a break by sentencing him to 365 days in county jail and five years’ probation. Work furlough gave him an additional break," said Lief, a senior deputy district attorney.

“It’s interesting that Mr. Avary could not do what was required of him to stay out of trouble and stay out of county jail."

-- Catherine Saillant

Photo: Ventura County Sheriff

Comments

[David Reynolds]

The thing here I cant get my head around is his sentence. Is it normal to give a person who kills someone while driving drunk that kind of sentence?

[David]

He is just a punk who needs a lesson.

[emm305]

stupidly arrogant or arrogantly stupid?

[rava]

maybe he is trying to get punished, he knows he got off easy.

[Jane King]

He kills his passenger while driving drunk and that is not considered violent? "Work furlough is for people that havent been convicted of violent crimes." I think his victim died a violent death. The jerk is behind bars now where he belongs.

[Marley]

I agree with you David, had I done what he did, i would want myself locked up, how does he sleep at night.

[Crooked Justice]

In OC, they are winning SECOND DEGREE MURDER convictions on cases like this. Pretty ridiculous, IMO.

I think a conviction/sentence between this case and the ridiculousness is OC is about appropriate.

[DFC]

Throw away the key.

[pasadena jag]

Should have been ten years!

[Arye Michael Bender]

So he's being punished because shined some Twitter light on the unspeakable things that happen in prison?

America rewards denial. It seems unable to handle the truth.

[B]

Notice: Kill someone while drunk driving = work furlough; provide inside information about our prison system = punish more severely.

[unfair]

Celebrity Justice, eh....

[sophie]

Wow. This sentence is a travesty. So this is what a white screenwriter of one of the most violent films of the 90s gets. leniency for murder.

[nulldevice]

That kind of sentence isn't unusual for a first offense with no priors, especially since he confessed, owned up, and didn't try to legal-loophole himself out of it like a number of other celebs have.

The twitter thing was a little odd, though. This is a big deal why? He's getting a harsher sentence for tweeting than he is for vehicular manslaughter.

[Tara]

seems that he was collecting "hard core" data for a future project instead of writing a million times: "I am responsible for vehicular manslaughter and severe injuries to my wife". priorities?

[Jim Q. Citizen]

Avary's victim, Andreas Zini died a horrible, painful, and terrifying death crushed inside the car that Avary had driven so recklessly. Andreas fought bravely, gasping for air to no avail as Avary attended to his wife. This guy literally got away with murder thanks to his fortune and fame. Disgusting.

[John L. Mendez]

How to judge a transgressor like Roger Avary? Judge not, lest you be judged by the standards you apply. Why does everyone note the speck in our brother’s eye and take no notice of a speck in your own eyes?

You hypocrites, remove the speck from your own eyes before removing it from your Roger Avary’s. Jesus came to save sinners... that means Roger Avary and ALL of us! Christ has a love for seeking and saving the lost, we should, too, if Christ lives within us.

[JEFF]

So, the guy is going to jail because he told what goes on inside the disease laden, overcrowded, dungeon-like County Jail? Hope he does that time standing on his head and keeps tweeting abt the horrible conditions that actually increase crime and degradation in LA. If the people of LA knew the official crimes committed in their name they'd run and hide in fear and shame.

[W.]

This is about how you get into deeper trouble by posting information about the horrible practices within the correction system, not about the original sentence. Sigh.

[J Dimmick]

"Avary could not do what was required of him to stay out of trouble... "

It's unclear to me what "trouble" Avary got into that resulted in him being sent to general population. What am I missing?

Hey Jim Q, since you personally saw Avary driving so recklessly, why didn't you stop him? And since you were at the scene and personally observed what happened in the crash, why didn't you attend to Avary's friend?

[Cal]

Not talking about the original sentence, how is it that twittering is a parole violation or whatever which gets you thrown back in jail? I still don't understand what he did that got him put back.

[Imtelling Onyou]

What are they trying to hide so bad? This smells like a cover up and suppresion of speech.

[Imtelling Onyou]

What are they trying to hide so bad? This smells like a cover up and suppresion of speech.

[Dgo]

[sarcasm] Someone should check his legal status in this country! And then deport him! I'm tired of this kind of scum! Taking our jobs! DEPORT THEM ALL![/sarcasm]

If this were you or me we wouldn't be given one year work furlough. The justice system is really screwed up. They wonder why lots of us don't trust in it...

[Lilly]

It's a shame that there are 2 tiers of justice-one for the rich and famous and one for the regular Joe. We are creating a generation of people who demand rights but want no responsibilities. It's very scary!