Rip Torn’s attorney seeking to keep actor out of prison in Conn. bank break-in case

Rip Torn seeks to resolve Conn. bank break-in case

LITCHFIELD, Conn. — An attorney for Rip Torn said he has been talking with prosecutors about keeping the Emmy-winning actor out of prison as they try to resolve criminal charges that he broke into a bank while drunk and armed.

Torn, 79, appeared briefly Tuesday in Litchfield Superior Court, where he has pleaded not guilty to trespassing, carrying a weapon while intoxicated, carrying a weapon without a permit, burglary and criminal mischief.

His attorney, A. Thomas Waterfall, said they hope Torn can apply for accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation in which first-time offenders can have their record cleared if they meet certain court-ordered requirements. Avoiding prison time is “absolutely” their goal, either through the accelerated rehabilitation program or some other kind of plea agreement, Waterfall said.

“I don’t believe that jail is anything that would be of any use to Mr. Torn (or) to the citizens of the state of Connecticut. I just don’t see that as being a reasonable resolution to this case,” Waterfall said.

Torn did not speak during his court appearance, but smiled and gave a thumbs-up gesture to onlookers as he entered the courthouse with his son, Tony.

He is scheduled to return June 4, at which time Waterfall said they expect to have made “very serious progress toward a resolution” to the criminal case.

Torn, who played Chief Zed in the 1997 film “Men in Black,” was arrested Jan. 29 after he broke into a Litchfield Bancorp branch near his home in Salisbury, according to court records. Police say he thought he was home, taking off his hat and boots and leaving them by the door.

Officers found a loaded .22-caliber revolver in Torn’s pocket, and a breath test showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.203 — about 2 1/2 times the legal limit for drivers in Connecticut, the court records say.

Waterfall has said Torn remembers nothing of that night.

Since the arrest, Torn has completed inpatient alcohol rehabilitation and is participating in outpatient treatment. He also has gotten clean urinalysis test results, has gotten rid of all of his weapons and met other conditions proposed by the court, Waterfall said Tuesday.

“He is also continuing with Alcoholics Anonymous and that’s going very well,” Waterfall said. “He looks better and better each time you see him.”

Torn didn’t brandish the weapon when the officers confronted him, according to his attorney and the court records, and has no history of violence. His permit to carry a firearm in Connecticut had expired in October 2007.

Waterfall acknowledged that the weapons charge could complicate Torn’s application for accelerated rehabilitation, which typically is an option only for nonviolent offenders.

Torn was given probation last year in a Connecticut drunken driving case and allowed to enter an alcohol-education program. A Connecticut judge last week dismissed the drunken driving charge against him based on his successful completion of that program.

He also has two previous drunken driving arrests in New York.

The actor, whose real name is Elmore Rual Torn, has appeared on the television show “30 Rock” and won an Emmy in 1996 for his work on “The Larry Sanders Show.” In addition to “Men in Black,” his recent movie credits include “The Insider” and “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”