Child Star Brian Bonsall Sentenced For Assault

Brian Bonsall, former child actor from the show Family Ties, has been sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to charges of felony menacing and third-degree assault. He attacked friend Michael Trujillo last year, reportedly hitting Trujillo with a stool, but does not remember the incident.

“Bonsall then said that he and Trujillo both are bipolar and like drugs,” says Popeater according to a report taken at the time. “Bonsall said that he takes a lot of drugs and sometimes those drugs make him forget things.”

Bonsall entered his plea in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday along with entering a guilty plea for violating terms of probation from a 2007 assault of his girlfriend. For that charge, Bonsall was sentenced to five days in a work-release program and 40 hours of community service.

The Denver Post reports that a Boulder County district judge agreed to give Bonsall a deferred sentence on the felony menacing charge, meaning that if he stays out of trouble for two years, the felony won’t show up on his permanent record. A judge will decide next week whether he’s eligible to participate in the county’s “integrated treatment court,” which focuses on rehabilitation.

Since playing Michael J. Fox’s little brother on Family Ties, Brian Bonsall has graduated high school and bounced around Colorado, repeatedly getting in trouble with the law.