What to Know
When Selma Blair entered court on Monday, her lawyer seemed to hope the judge would go easy on her, but that’s not how it played out. Selma is now facing assault charges after an incident on a plane over the weekend that left her being accused of injuring members of a flight crew (as well as a police officer and a nurse), and it seems like she may end up having the book thrown at her for this.
Lesson learned: Her lawyer starting off by asking for “leniency” was probably a bad idea…
Selma’s lawyer referred to her as the ‘gold standard.’
Actor Selma Blair was seen leaving Queens Criminal Court following her arraignment. She was arrested after flight attendants reported a ‘physically abusive passenger’ on a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York https://t.co/vUWQgh1i83
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 13, 2026
According to the New York Post, Joshua Reitzas, one of Selma’s lawyers, tried to convince a judge in Queens to go easy on the 54-year-old actress.
“Consider her body of work and what she’s done for people,” he said. “This is someone we should look up to. She is the gold standard.”
We would never discredit Selma for the contributions she’s made to Hollywood — Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, and The Sweetest Thing did have huge impacts on pop culture as we knew it when each movie was released — but is that really a reason to let her off after she allegedly became so violent that she ended up with two assault charges?
The judge refused to treat her differently than anyone else.
The outlet reported that the judge wasn’t buying Selma’s lawyer’s excuses. Not only did he deny the request to remove her handcuffs during the hearing, but he also shut down any hopes she might have had about getting a slap on the wrist for this incident.
“Ms. Blair should not get special treatment because she is a celebrity,” the judge said.
Her bail was then set — $20,000 cash or $60,000 bond — and shortly afterward, Selma posted bail and was released.
She is due to appear in court again on January 19, and if she’s convicted on these charges, it’s possible that she could spend up to seven years in prison.
Her lawyer claimed that she had missed her medication before the flight.
Selma’s second lawyer, Shawn Barnes, said that she had missed a dose of her medication to treat her MS diagnosis, and had fallen and hit her head after working “extensive hours and exhaustive hours” before boarding the plane to New York City.
“These factors, coupled with the altitude, resulted in a state of severe confusion and disorientation,” he said, per Page Six. “This was not an intentional assault.”
In the end, none of that seemed to matter to the judge, though. Guess we’ll have to wait and find out what happens in January, but it looks like this case is about to be taken very seriously.
READ NEXT: Police Were Called to Dolly Parton’s Home Over a Family Dispute Just Weeks Before Her Death
You must be logged in to post a comment.