General Hospital star Haley Pullos on Monday served a three-month jail sentence for drunk driving, but was immediately placed on five years’ probation and ordered to work 200 hours of community service.
The glamorous 26-year-old actress, who in April pleaded guilty to driving the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway while drunk and high, causing a near-fatal crash, also lost her driver’s license for a year and must complete a nine-month alcohol education program and undergo mental health treatment.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Terry Smerling at a court hearing in Pasadena, California, where he also ordered Pullos to pay more than $8,000 in restitution to the injured driver whose car he crashed.
Pullos – who let her long blonde hair flow over an orange jumpsuit before being released later in the day – was warned by the judge not to drink and drive again.
He added: “God forbid that in the future you cause an accident and someone dies, because you will be accused of murder.”
General Hospital star Haley Pullos, 26, appeared in court Monday in an orange jumpsuit as she was released from jail and placed on probation.
The glamorous 26-year-old also lost her driver’s license for a year and must complete a nine-month alcohol education program and undergo mental health treatment.
About an hour into Monday’s brief hearing, a smiling Pullos was released from a side door of the Pasadena courthouse and told DailyMail.com exclusively: “I’m very happy to be coming home.”
Dressed in a black paper suit and sunglasses and holding a book and a carton of orange juice, she ran into the arms of her waiting parents, Alex and Judy Pullos, hugging them as she cried tears of joy at being free after 90 days behind bars.
She was also greeted by a bearded man believed to be one of her two brothers who was holding the family dog, and actress Nancy Lee Grahn, 68, who played Pullos’ mother on General Hospital.
“Thank you so much for coming,” Pullos told Grahn before driving off with his parents in a gray Ford Fusion.
Earlier in the proceedings, Judge Smerling granted Pullos’ request to take a two-week trip out of the country in the fall with her parents, Alex and Judy Pullos, who were in court when their daughter was released.
Pullos, who prosecutors said had a blood alcohol level of 0.25 percent — more than three times the legal limit — originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of drunken driving and a hit-and-run charge following the April 2023 crash.
The 26-year-old beamed as she hugged her parents after the brief hearing.
Pullos also hugged her “TV mom” – actress Nancy Lee Grahn, who played Pullos’ mother on General Hospital – outside the courthouse when she was discharged Monday.
Pullos emerged from the courtroom in a black, unglamorous paper jail release suit.
The scene after Pullos collided with another motorist in a head-on collision in April 2023
Moments before the horrific accident, Pullos crashed into a parked car while driving erratically in Pasadena, California.
But in a deal with the Los Angeles district attorney, she changed her plea to no contest to a DUI and in exchange, the prosecutor dismissed the other charge plus hit-and-run.
Pullos, who began playing Molly Lansing-Davis on the popular daytime soap opera when she was 11, was also ordered Monday to pay $8,260 in restitution to Courtney Wilder, 24, whose car she crashed head-on on the Ventura 134 Freeway in Pasadena.
Wilder, who was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition for emergency surgery, is now suing the actress in civil court, seeking damages for negligence.
Pullos was charged with a first count of felony driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and a second count of driving with a blood alcohol concentration greater than 0.08% causing injury. The first count was the one that was dismissed in the plea agreement.
A hit-and-run charge was also dismissed as a result of Pullos crashing into a parked car just before the highway crash. But even though prosecutors dismissed that charge, she will still have to pay restitution to the owner of the car she damaged.
Police say Pullos, who was discharged from General Hospital a month after the crash, drove her white 2019 Ford Fusion west on eastbound Highway 134 and crashed into Wilder’s Kia, which was traveling east at 60 mph.
Earlier this year, Pullos pleaded guilty in April to driving the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway while drunk and high, causing a near-fatal crash.
Pullos is best known for her roles on General Hospital, House and The Collector.
Weeks after the accident, Pullos announced she would be taking a break from General Hospital, on which she played Molly Lansing-Davis, who was dating TJ Ashford, played by Tajh Bellow.
Both cars were completely destroyed and when first responders arrived, police say, Pullos was unable to get out of her car, so firefighters had to use the jaws of life to get her out.
Several mini bottles of tequila and edible marijuana wrappers were reportedly found in his car.
And police at the scene of the accident reported that he smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glassy.
Wilder accuses Pullos in her lawsuit of “attacking” and abusing first responders in a “fit of rage” at the crash site, including hitting and yelling at a firefighter for touching his expensive designer shirt.
“Haley Pullos acted maliciously and with no regard for the safety of others, as demonstrated by her anger when first responders removed her from her vehicle,” Wilder said in a written statement to the court.
Pullos’ parents look on as their daughter appears in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday
At Monday’s hearing, Judge Terry Smerling warned the actress never to drink and drive again, adding that if she caused “an accident in the future and someone dies, she will be charged with murder.”
Pullos was seen leaving court, where she was released on probation and ordered to pay more than $8,000 in restitution to the driver whose car she crashed into.
“She acted maliciously by attacking officers and yelling profanities in front of witnesses and directed at those attempting to assist her,” Wilder said in court documents.
‘In a fit of rage, Haley Pullos punched a firefighter and yelled at him to take his hands off her “fucking $400 shirt.”
‘Despite causing two accidents, one of which resulted in serious life-threatening injuries, he cared more about his overly expensive clothing than the safety and integrity of the victim of his reckless, intentional and despicable conduct.
‘As further evidence of her abhorrent behavior, Haley Pullos continued to fight off medical staff and was forced to be sedated.
“Not only was he driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but he was also drinking while driving, as evidenced by the edible wrappers and empty alcohol bottles found in his vehicle,” Wilder added.
Pullos, who was spotted by DailyMail.com checking into a luxury rehab facility in Malibu a few weeks after the accident, is fighting Wilder’s civil claim against her, insisting he was to blame, not her.
And she is asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit and order Wilder to pay her legal fees.
In January, Wilder added Pasadena’s No Comment Lounge (where Pullos was working as a hostess the night of the crash) as a defendant in her civil lawsuit, accusing the popular nightspot of offering her alcohol and then allowing her to drive home.
Wilder is also suing the California Department of Transportation, alleging that the road where the accident occurred is in “dangerous condition.”