Emile Hirsch appears in court on assault charges

Salt Lake City - Actor Emile Hirsch is making his first court appearance since being charged with assault for allegedly putting a studio executive in a chokehold and dragging her across a nightclub table while he was in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival.

Hirsch was charged last month with aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5 000 fine. He is also facing a misdemeanour count of intoxication.

Hirsch does not remember the events of 25 January at a nightclub in Park City because he drank so much alcohol, his attorney Robert Offer said in a statement released last month. Offer said Hirsch checked into rehab within days of the incident.

The woman Hirsch is accused of assaulting is Daniele Bernfeld an executive for Insurge Pictures, a Paramount Pictures subsidiary, Summit County prosecutor Ryan Stack confirmed.

The court appearance on Monday in Park City was expected to be brief. He is not expected to enter a plea to the charges.

Hirsch is best known for his starring role in Into the Wild. He also appeared in Universal's Navy SEAL drama Lone Survivor, Peter Berg's account of a disastrous 2005 military operation in Afghanistan.

(AP)