General Hospital's Nancy Lee Grahn defends former co

Release time：2024-05-02 01:17:36 Source：International Imagery news portal

General Hospital star Nancy Lee Grahn has come to the defense of her former onscreen daughter, Haley Pullos, in the wake of Pullos's DUI arrest and subsequent jail sentencing.

Pullos, 25, was sentenced to three months after pleading no contest to a DUI charge stemming from a 2023 car crash that occurred while she was driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, traveling the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway.

The 68-year-old soap opera icon took to X on Monday to write: 'As Haley’s TV mom I can tell some truth about her as I’ve loved her since she was a little girl. She made a HUGE mistake, knows it, owns it & has spent the last yr doing EVERYTHING imaginable to take responsibility 4 it.'

She added: 'It's not that I oppose jail. It's that I oppose this jail.' 

Shortly after her arrest, Pullos, who portrayed Molly Lansing, the youngest daughter of Grahn's character Alexis Davis, was released from General Hospital, where she first joined in 2009.

General Hospital star Nancy Lee Grahn has come to the defense of her former onscreen daughter, Haley Pullos, in the wake of Pullos's DUI arrest and subsequent jail sentencing; seen in 2022

Pullos, 25, was sentenced to three months after pleading no contest to a DUI charge stemming from a 2023 car crash that occurred while she was driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, traveling the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway; seen in 2022

The actress will also have to serve five years probation, 200 hours of community service and pay more than $8,000 in restitution to the injured driver whose car she smashed into.

Pullos – whom prosecutors told the court had a blood alcohol level of 0.25 per cent, more than three times the legal limit – originally pleaded not guilty to two DUI charges and another count of hit-and-run following the April 2023 accident.

But in a deal with LA's District Attorney Monday, she changed her plea to no contest on one DUI and in exchange, the DA dropped the other one plus the hit and run.

Pullos – wearing a beige jacket and blouse and light brown pants – told Pasadena Court Judge Terry Smerling: 'Yes, your honor,' when he asked her if she understood that the consequences of pleading no contest, carry the same weight as a guilty plea.

And she showed little emotion as Sheriff's deputies handcuffed her hands behind her back and led her to the cells while her mother, Judy Pullos, looked on sobbing.

Deputy District Attorney Melany Avanessians, explaining the plea deal to the court Monday, said that after Pullos has served three months in jail, she will be brought back to court for a sentencing hearing on July 29.

At that hearing, she will be placed on probation for five years, begin serving 200 hours of community service, and have her driver's license suspended for a year.

She will also be ordered to stay – for a period still to be determined – in a drug and alcohol rehab program she has already been attending for several months.

The 68-year-old soap opera icon took to her X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday to write: 'As Haley’s TV mom I can tell some truth about her as I’ve loved her since she was a little girl. She made a HUGE mistake, knows it, owns it & has spent the last yr doing EVERYTHING imaginable to take responsibility 4 it'

Grahn added in her tweet: 'It's not that I oppose jail. It's that I oppose this jail.'

Shortly after her arrest, Pullos, who portrayed Molly Lansing, the youngest daughter of Grahn's character Alexis Davis, was released from General Hospital , where she first joined in 2009

Pullos – who played Molly Lansing-Davis on the popular daytime soap opera since she was 11 – was also ordered Monday to pay $8,260 in restitution to 23 year-old Courtney Wilder, whose car she collided head-on with on the 134 Ventura Freeway in Pasadena in April 2023.

Wilder, who was rushed in critical condition to a local hospital to undergo emergency surgery , is now suing the actress in civil court, seeking damages for negligence.

Pullos was charged with a first count of felony DUI causing injury and a second of driving with over 0.08 blood alcohol content causing injury. The first count was the one that was dismissed in the deal.

Also dismissed was a hit-and-run charge resulting from Pullos running into a parked car just before the freeway crash. But though prosecutors dropped that count, she will still have to pay restitution to the owner of the car she damaged.

Police say that Pullos, who was dropped from General Hospital a month after the accident, drove her white 2019 Ford Fusion westbound on to the eastbound 134 Freeway and smashed into Wilder's Kia which was traveling east at 60mph.

Both cars were completely wrecked and when first responders arrived, say cops, Pullos was unable to exit her car, so firefighters had to use the jaws of life to get her out.

Several mini bottles of tequila, plus edible marijuana wrappers were found in her car.

And police at the crash scene reported that she smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech and glassy eyes.

Marijuana edibles and tequila bottles were found during a search of Pullos' white 2019 Ford, which photos show sustained severe damage in the accident

After the crash, California Highway Patrol and Pasadena fire officials released photos of the aftermath, showing both Pullos' and the 23-year-old victim's cars completely totaled and sprawled along Arroyo Seco Parkway

The injured driver Wilder accused Pullos in his lawsuit of 'attacking' and abusing first responders in a 'rage' at the accident site, and even hitting and yelling at a fireman for touching her expensive designer shirt.

'Haley Pullos acted maliciously and without any regard for the safety of others, as evidenced by her rage when she was pulled from her vehicle by first responders,' said Wilder in a written declaration to the court.

'She acted maliciously by attacking the officers and yelling profanities in front of witnesses and directed toward those who were trying to help her.

'In her fit of rage, Haley Pullos battered a firefighter and yelled at him to take his hands off her '$400 f***ing shirt.'

'Despite having just caused two accidents, one of which resulted in serious, life-threatening injuries, she cared more about her overpriced clothing than she did the safety and all-being of the victim of her reckless, intentional and despicable conduct.

'As more evidence of her abhorrent behavior, Haley Pullos continued to fight medical staff and was forced to be sedated.

'Not only was she driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but she was drinking behind the wheel, as evidenced by the edible wrappers and empty alcohol bottles which were found in her vehicle.'

Pullos was charged with a first count of felony DUI causing injury and a second of driving with over 0.08 blood alcohol content causing injury. The first count was the one that was dismissed in the deal 

Pullos – who was spotted by DailyMail.com checking into a luxury rehab facility in Malibu a few weeks after the crash – is fighting Wilder's civil lawsuit against her, insisting it was he who was to blame, not her.

And she's asking the judge to dismiss the suit and order Wilder to pay her legal fees.

In January, Wilder added Pasadena's No Comment Lounge – where Pullos was working as a hostess on the night of the accident  as a defendant in his civil lawsuit, accusing the popular nightspot of plying her with booze, then letting her drive herself home.

Wilder is also suing the State of California Transportation Department, claiming the road where the accident happened is in 'dangerous condition.'

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