Emile Hirsch gets shockingly little jail time for choking a female studio exec

Back at Sundance in January, actor Emile Hirsch was arrested for choking Paramount Digital VP Daniele Bernfeld at a nightclub in Park City. Sentencing has now come through for the actor, who pled guilty to avoid a stronger sentence. He got a 15 day jail sentence, a $4,750 fine and 50 hours of community service. Bernfeld described the attack in sharp terms at the sentencing: “I was subjected to a violent and unprovoked attack by a complete stranger. The defendant, Emile Hirsch, put me in a chokehold, pulled me off my feet and threw me on the floor. With the full force of his weight, he choked me until I blacked out. It took two people to pull him off me, and if not for their intervention, the attack would have continued. I thought I was going to die.”

She went on to criticize the terms of his deal, saying, “Quite simply, this punishment does not fit the crime. While the Park City Police Department treated me with courtesy and respect, this plea deal meets the bare minimum required to placate the regulations of our legal system. If a violent attack in front of a roomful of witnesses can be labeled a misdemeanor and dismissed, what of women who are assaulted while alone in hallways or bathrooms, or behind the closed doors of their own homes.”