Charlie Sheen arrested

Aspen, Colo. — Charlie Sheen spent the better part of Christmas Day in a Colorado jail cell after being arrested on domestic violence allegations.

The 44-year-old actor was taken into custody Friday morning by officers responding to a 911 call from a house in this ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver.

An ambulance went to the house, but the accuser was not taken to the hospital.

Sheen, the star of CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” was taken to the Pitkin County jail and booked for investigation of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

He was released in the late afternoon after posting $8,500 bond and being advised by a county judge on the conditions of his release, she said.

Dasaro declined to name Sheen’s accuser, citing a department policy prohibiting the identification of potential victims in domestic violence cases.

Aspen attorney Richard Cummins said late Friday that he was representing Sheen in the case. He declined to name Sheen’s accuser or discuss details, but he cautioned against any rush to judgment.

“I think at the end of the day it will be much ado about nothing,” Cummins told The Associated Press. “I don’t think there’s any criminality about what went on.”

Cummins said a court date was set for Feb. 8. “That may be to determine whether a case goes forward or not,” he said.

Vic Chesnutt dies at 45

Athens, Ga. — Vic Chesnutt, the folk-rocker whose sometimes dark reflections on life were influenced in part by a car wreck that left him paralyzed, has died. He was 45.

Family friend Christina Stuckey, who answered the phone at Chesnutt’s home, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. Chesnutt’s record label, Constellation Records, said in a statement on its Web site that Chesnutt died on Christmas Day, Friday.

The brief statement says “Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about.”

Chesnutt worked with such notable artists as R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe and guitarist Guy Picciotto of the punk band Fugazi.

Chesnutt said in a biography posted on his MySpace page that he came to “a whole new understanding of music” after the 1983 car crash.

He recently had toured with his Vic Chesnutt band, a “supergroup” of sorts featuring members of Canadian bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, as well as Picciotto.

“This is a truly incredible braintrust, with all these people — we’ve got some of the smartest and most sensitive punk rockers out there,” he told the Athens Banner-Herald for a story in October.