Shannon Storms Beador returned for Season 17 of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” which premiered on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Eccles/Bravo)
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member Shannon Beador pleaded no contest to DUI charges on Thursday, Nov. 2 and received probation and community service, despite the objections of prosecutors who wanted her to spend some time behind bars.
Beador agreed to an offer from a judge allowing her to plead no contest to a pair of misdemeanor DUI charges — essentially neither disputing nor admitting to the allegations — in return for the dismissal of a misdemeanor hit and run charge.
Along with three years of informal probation and 40 hours of community service, Orange County Superior Court Judge Brett London also ordered Beador to enroll in a first-time offender alcohol program.
The crash left Beador with a fractured left wrist, a cut and bruising around her left eye, prosecutors said. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.24%, – three times the legal limit.
“I am grateful that no one else was injured besides me in this incident,” Beador said in a statement following the hearing. “I have learned so much from my terrible mistake that night and realize that driving any distance while impaired is too far.”
The prosecution and Beador’s defense attorney argued in pair of written briefs filed prior to the hearing about whether Beador was getting off lightly as a result of the court offer, as prosecutors alleged, or if she had been treated more harshly than other suspected DUI offenders following her arrest, as her attorney countered.
Shortly before midnight on Sept. 16, a Newport Beach police officer responded to reports of a vehicle colliding with a building in the 500 block of Clubhouse Avenue.
The officer found “moderate” property damage – later determined to be $24,100 worth – .to a concrete planter “and a wall, along with a trail of vehicle fluid and debris that apparently led to a broken-down vehicle in the middle of the street on Via Lido, east of Newport Boulevard.
A crying Beador was seen exiting the vehicle with a bloody eye, and was spotted by the officer “stumbling ” on a sidewalk “with a large dog near her,” according to a prosecution filing.
“The defendant stated they needed to be careful because she was part of a television show, The Real Housewives of Orange County,” Deputy District Attorney Dang Vu wrote about what Beador allegedly told the officer. “The defendant said the current incident could not be made public or put on social media.”
The officer determined Beador’s speech was slurred and that she smelled of alcohol. Beador told the officer she had gone to a restaurant at 6:30 p.m. where she had three large tequila sodas, then after dinner had gone to an ex-boyfriend’s house before being kicked out. She explained she struck the building while driving away from her ex-boyfriend’s residence, but left because she didn’t think the damage was severe, prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutor unsuccessfully requested that Beador serve 30 days in county jail.
Beador’s attorney, Michael Fell, accused prosecutors of seeking a punishment “beyond the normal sentencing offer for a first-time DUI where no one was injured.” The defense attorney wrote that Beador is “well aware of the seriousness of her actions and has taken responsibility from the moment of her collision.”
According to her attorney, Beador collided with a concrete planter, receiving a serious head wound in the process. After her car was rendered inoperable, the defense attorney wrote, Beador, who did not have a cell phone with her, decided to walk home to retrieve a phone in order to call for help.
Fell accused prosecutors of leaving out of their court filing the fact that Beador, within days of her arrest, wrote a check to the person whose property was damaged, which the defense attorney noted “ensured that the victim would be made 100% whole” and “did not desire for Ms. Beador to be prosecuted.”
“What is included in the Prosecutor’s Brief, for some reason, is that Ms. Beador is a public figure and is featured on a nationally televised show,” Fell wrote. “One wonders why this information was relevant to include in their brief, but demonstrates that Ms. Beador is not being treated the same as every other individual facing the same charges.”
After the hearing, Orange County DA Todd Spitzer criticized Judge London’s decision to offer the court deal and dismiss the hit and run charge. The DA noted Beador’s blood alcohol level and argued that “driving under the influence must have consequences.”
“This is not justice,” Spitzer said in a written statement. “We as a society need to wake up and address the very real — and often deadly — consequences of driving under the influence.”
Beador joined the Bravo Housewives show in 2014. Alcohol is a significant part of almost every episode, with Beador, Tamra Judge and former housewife Vicki Gunvalson dubbing themselves the Tres Amigas for their hard-partying, tequila-shot-taking ways.
Originally published at Sean Emery