ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Actor Charlie Sheen and his wife are due in court Monday amid domestic violence allegations. They'll be arriving separately and only the judge can determine if they can leave together.
The star of TV's "Two and a Half Men" faces arraignment on his Christmas Day domestic violence arrest at his Aspen home involving his wife, Brooke. He is expected to enter a plea.
But the Sheens, who have twin baby sons, will also ask Pitkin County District Court Judge James B. Boyd to modify a restraining order in place since the arrest.
Their attorneys say they want Boyd to throw out or revise the order that prevents them from contacting each other. Such protection orders are standard in cases of alleged domestic violence.
Prosecutors have opposed the request. But through attorneys, the two have said they would like to be able to spend time with each other so they can reconcile.
Boyd could vacate or add conditions that could possibly even let them leave court together.
Boyd did allow Sheen to visit his wife in a Los Angeles hospital last month, where she was admitted with a high fever and an infection following oral surery.
The actor is scheduled to enter a plea in his Dec. 25 arrest on suspicion of felony menacing, second-degree assault and criminal mischief.
A police officer's arrest affidavit quoted Brooke Sheen as saying the actor pinned her on a bed while holding a knife to her throat and told her that she "better be in fear."
The officer said Brooke Sheen reported her husband also told her that he could hire ex-police "who know how to get the job done and they won't leave any trace."
Charlie Sheen denies threatening or hitting his wife, but told police that he broke two pairs of her eyeglasses in front of her.
In an audio recording of a 911 call, a woman who identifies herself as Brooke tells the dispatcher that Charlie Sheen threatened her with a knife and added, "I thought I was gonna die for one hour."
She said at least five times during the four-minute call that she wanted to file a report. "It's happened before," she said, according to the affidavit.
But Yale Galanter, Brooke Sheen's attorney, has said she hired him "because she is a witness against her husband and she wants him to continue being her husband."
He called it "a very interesting legal conundrum.... Events occurred. She gave a sworn statement to a law enforcement officer. She wants to work on her marriage and she wants to honor her legal obligations."
