Judge accepts Luann de Lesseps' plea deal in felony case

A judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, has formally accepted a plea deal agreed to last month by “The Real Housewives of New York City” cast member Luann de Lesseps, who has a home in Sag Harbor.

De Lesseps’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, told Newsday Wednesday, “We entered the plea in absentia this morning and the court accepted it. Luann’s been placed on one-year probation that will be transferred to New York for supervision there.” The legal term “in absentia” indicates de Lesseps, 53, was not personally present.

The plea arrangement in the case, stemming from de Lesseps' drunken tirade in Florida in December 2017, calls for the reality-TV star and cabaret singer to perform 50 hours of community service at a minimum 10 hours monthly, attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week, not drink or possess alcohol or illegal drugs, submit to random drug testing at her expense, attend a victim-impact class put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and pay applicable fines and court fees.

An additional condition that she give a written apology to Palm Beach Police Officer Steven O’Leary, whose forehead she injured with a door, has been completed, Duncan said. “We had issued the letter of apology to the officer long ago.”

De Lesseps has not commented on social media. 

Arrested at a Palm Beach hotel on Dec. 23, 2017, in an altercation during which she screamed she would kill police, de Lesseps was formally charged in January with a felony count of resisting an officer with violence, and with the misdemeanors of trespassing an occupied structure and disorderly intoxication. She had faced three additional charges including battery on a law-enforcement officer.

The plea deal allows de Lesseps to avoid up to 1 year in jail for the felony, as well as up to 1 year for trespassing and 60 days for disorderly intoxication. She rejected a plea offer in February.

After checking into an alcohol-treatment facility in January following her arrest, de Lesseps relapsed last month, blaming it on a lawsuit that had scuttled the purchase of a house in upstate New York. She did not attend the Bravo taping of this season’s “Real Housewives” reunion show in order to return to rehab. On Aug. 4, de Lesseps performed her scheduled cabaret show date at The Paramount in Huntington.