Alycia Lane goes free

NEW YORK - Former CBS3 anchor Alycia Lane moved a step toward vindication in a five-minute hearing this morning in criminal court here.

Lane, 35, no longer faces a felony assault charge, filed Dec. 16 after a middle-of-the-night encounter with police on a Manhattan street.

Lane, out of work since Jan. 1, now faces less serious counts of obstruction of governmental administration and harassment. Both will be dismissed in six months if Lane stays out of trouble, Judge Dina Douglas said. Lane will carry neither a guilty plea nor a conviction on her record.

Prosecutor Mike Greenman said the felony charge was dropped because the scratches to the plainclothes police officer were not serious enough to support the charge.

Lane also agreed to one day's community service, which she has already performed. She volunteers with Project HOME, an advocacy group for the homeless.

After Douglas approved the deal, Lane's boyfriend, Chris Booker - seated next to her in a courtroom under harsh fluorescent lighting - clasped her hand.

Lane's criminal lawyer, David Smith, said he agreed to the deal to speed the judicial process and to "avoid the public spectacle of further proceedings." Smith said that since he expected that Lane would have been cleared at trial, the agreement with the district attorney offered the same outcome.

"She maintains that she is innocent," said Smith. "She is ready to move on with her life. This matter has ended completely."

Lane, who entered the courthouse through a side door with her parents, Marlin and Petrita Lane, and her agent, Greg Willinger, stepped outside to face a throng of reporters. "I'm so glad it is over," said Lane, demure in a black Moschino suit and matching Louboutin stilettos. "I'm looking forward to moving on with my life."

A reporter asked whether she would take up wrestling and Lane replied with a giggle: "No."

Her Philadelphia lawyer, Paul R. Rosen said Lane had been fielding "so many offers [of work] . . . it's just a matter of time."

Her life probably will not include CBS3, where she had worked for four years and coanchored the prime-time newscasts.

Lane hired Rosen the day after she was fired. Rosen said a civil case against CBS was moving "full speed ahead." He declined to be more specific.

CBS3 issued a statement this afternoon: "As we have said previously, we made a decision in January that was not based solely on the New York incident of December 16 but rather on a series of judgments made by Alycia when she was working at CBS3. As we did then, we continue to wish her the best in all of her future endeavors."

Lane, in effect, became the story. She appeared twice on camera with "Dr. Phil" McGraw to address her failed marriages, in a move that the station encouraged but friends and certain colleagues viewed as misguided. Journalists from prestigious schools are not supposed to become the story.

Thus exposed, Lane found her way onto the radar of the New York Post.

In May 2006, the Post's Page Six column reported that she was seen in photos being close to Prince Albert of Monaco, "her arms cozily wrapped around the royal." She insisted to the paper that nothing happened.

Exactly one year later, she hit the Post again after the wife of TV sportscaster Rich Eisen confronted Lane by e-mail for sending saucy vacation photos to him. The photos never surfaced, partly adding to the story's legend.

That summer, after she denied that she was dating a New York anchorman, the Post staked out her Washington Square condo to photograph them.

The final straw began at 2 a.m. Dec. 16 when she was in a cab with Booker, Sirius Satellite Radio executive Ross Zapin and his wife, Melissa. Their cab was behind a car being driven erratically in Lower Manhattan.

When both vehicles stopped for a light, Zapin got out of the cab to confront the car's occupants. The police report, which did not identify Zapin, says the three occupants identified themselves as police officers and ordered the man back to the cab.

Lane stepped out of the car and approached the officers with a camera. The police report also alleged that Lane used a slur against the female officer. She was arrested and spent much of the day in a lockup.

KYW enjoyed healthy ratings while she was paired at 6 and 11 p.m. with Larry Mendte. The station's Eyewitness News is a solid No. 2 in town behind Action News on WPVI (Channel 6).

Since Lane's departure, KYW has maintained its ratings as Mendte has paired with anchor Susan Barnett, who is considered a front-runner for a permanent spot.