‘Airwolf’ Star Vincent Gets Reprieve on Probation Violation

Actor Jan-Michael Vincent has won a temporary reprieve from a monthlong jail sentence after assuring a Malibu Municipal Court commissioner that he is undergoing treatment for a drinking problem.

Commissioner Richard Brand said Wednesday said he would wait until Jan. 21 to decide whether Vincent should serve the 30-day jail sentence Brand handed down last May for a probation violation.

Vincent, 41, star of the canceled CBS television series “Airwolf,” was put on probation in December, 1983, after he pleaded guilty to a drunk-driving charge.

Vincent admitted to Brand on May 30 that he had violated his probation by driving a vehicle within six hours of drinking. The drinking was discovered by Ventura County sheriff’s deputies, who stopped Vincent’s car in Moorpark May 15 for a missing license plate.

Vincent, who has been in and out of courtrooms for several years, was acquitted last month in Santa Monica Superior Court of felony battery in a case in which he was accused of punching a female acquaintance in the face.

The actor pleaded no contest in July, 1985, to disturbing the peace after a man accused him of going into “a fit of rage” at a Malibu party. The man said he tried to intervene when Vincent kicked his girlfriend.

Vincent was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $85.

Vincent was acquitted in May, 1985, of charges stemming from a barroom brawl.