Dustin Diamond: ‘Saved By The Bell’ Actor Jailed Over Stabbing Incident [Report]
Dustin Diamond, the actor who is mostly known for his role as Samuel “Screech” Powers on Saved by the Bell, has begun his prison sentence for his involvement in a stabbing that occurred in December 2014. According to a report from ABC News, the 39-year-old was booked Friday into the Ozaukee County jail after he was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct after a three-day trial in June. Although he was acquitted of a felony, Diamond will remain incarcerated until April.
The actor was arrested on December 26, 2014, after stabbing a 25-year-old man at a Port Washington bar. Diamond testified he was trying to protect his girlfriend when he pulled out a pocketknife to ward people off. He claimed he accidentally stabbed the man in the process. He was arrested and was released after posting bail.
His attorney, Thomas Alberti, had filed a motion that somewhat corroborates Dustin’s story that he was defending his girlfriend.
“The State is in possession of photographs and/or Police Officer statements that may reasonably conclude that Amanda Schutz had been punched in the face and forcibly held by more than one adult male. [Diamond] produced a pocketknife in a desperate attempt to defend his [fiancée] from further harm. [Diamond] hoped to deter the aggressors with the only option that he had: a pocketknife. It was not until one of the aggressors attempted to tackle [Diamond] that any alleged injury occurred.”
Dustin Diamond convicted of misdemeanors in stabbing http://t.co/PALX1lWi1D
— TIME (@TIME) May 30, 2015
Although Dustin Diamond was sentenced to four months in prison, the sentence was “light” because he could have received up to 10 years in prison. Diamond and Amanda Schutz, his girlfriend at the time, were also ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution to the stabbing victim, who suffered a non-life-threatening wound, Us Weekly reports.
Judge Paul Malloy also sentenced Diamond to 15 months’ probation and said the sentence “has to send a message to the community that we’re just not going to live like this.”
Saved by the Bell's Dustin Diamond drops appeal and will begin his jail sentence in January https://t.co/582yaad2F2 pic.twitter.com/mXbbsFlrII
— People (@people) December 17, 2015
“I sincerely apologize to everyone involved,” the actor said during his sentencing. “This was the single most terrifying experience of my life … This is all I’ve been able to think about for the last six months.”
Last month, Diamond appeared in Ozaukee County Court Wednesday and withdrew his appeal of a disorderly conduct conviction.
Dustin Diamond has been involved in several scandals since the end of Saved by the Bell. In 2006, he starred in an amateur porn movie titled Screeched: Saved by the Smell. Shortly after he appeared on the reality show Celebrity Fit Club — where he threatened to fight both Ant (who hosted the show), and fitness coach Harvey Walden IV — he would later go on to claim that everything on Celebrity Fit Club was staged, and that he was simply playing the villain, Uproxx reports.
Diamond has been sued several times in the past decade for failure to pay taxes or make his mortgage payments. Radar Online reports that “Screech” was also sued by Ford Motor Credit Company on November 26, 2008, for $544 which resulted in the repossession of his 2005 Ford Expedition. Diamond was also hit with several lawsuits for delinquent taxes and foreclosure proceedings for missing mortgage payments. He has appeared on several reality TV shows since his role as a dorky teenager, and most recently he produced a tell-all documentary on Lifetime TV called The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story.
[Image via Twitter]
