Britney Spears hit with DUI charge in California, plea deal on the table

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Pop singer Britney Spears has been formally charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, according to prosecutors in a jurisdiction just outside Los Angeles, although the 44-year-old performer may be spared time behind bars if she accepts a plea arrangement.

The filing does not identify the specific substance authorities believe Spears had consumed at the time of her arrest in early March. She is set to be arraigned on Monday in Ventura County, which sits next to Los Angeles County.

Because the matter is a misdemeanour, Spears is not obligated to appear in person and may have her lawyer stand in for her, prosecutors indicated in a written statement.

The singer rose to enormous fame in the late 1990s with chart-topping tracks such as “…Baby One More Time”, though she has largely retreated from recording and performing over the past several years.

In the days after the arrest, a spokesperson for Spears called the incident “completely inexcusable” and said the artiste would “take the right steps and comply with the law.” She subsequently entered a rehabilitation programme on her own initiative.

Prosecutors noted that a plea bargain is the customary route in matters where the accused has no prior record, no one was hurt, the blood alcohol reading was modest, and the driver has voluntarily sought treatment — all conditions that appear to apply here.

Under such an arrangement, Spears would most likely plead guilty to reckless driving connected to drugs and/or alcohol, leading to a 12-month probation period. She would additionally be required to complete a court-mandated driver safety course and settle a fine.

“This offer will be extended to Ms Spears on Monday,” prosecutors said.

Spears endured a widely reported public crisis in 2007, after which her father, Jamie Spears, was installed as her conservator, taking charge of her finances and private affairs while she continued to headline major concerts. A Los Angeles court ended that conservatorship in 2021, following the surge of grassroots advocacy known as the “Free Britney” movement.

In her 2023 memoir “The Woman in Me”, the singer maintained that she had never used hard drugs and rejected the suggestion that she struggled with alcohol, while acknowledging she had been taking the ADHD prescription medication Adderall.