Dailywebnews: Christina Aguilera's Boyfriend Escapes DUI Charge

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Christina Aguilera's Boyfriend Escapes DUI Charge

Matthew Rutler's blood alcohol content was determined to be within legal limit.
By Gil Kaufman

Matthew Rutler and Christina Aguilera
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ WireImage

It looks like there won't be any charges filed following the early-morning traffic stop during which Christina Aguilera was taken in for allegedly being publicly drunk.

According to TMZ, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has officially rejected the case against Aguilera's boyfriend, Matthew Rutler, citing insufficient evidence to prosecute him for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Rutler, 25, was pulled over by police early on the morning of March 1 on suspicion of DUI, but according to unnamed law enforcement sources, his blood alcohol content was determined to be .06 at the time of his arrest, which is under California's legal limit to operate a vehicle, .08. Aguilera was the passenger in the car, and at the time a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesperson confirmed that one of the hosts of "The Voice" was "so intoxicated she couldn't take care of herself." The incident resulted in Aguilera, 30, being hit with a misdemeanor charge of suspicion of public drunkenness. But the Sheriff's Department announced later in the day that there was no intention of prosecuting the singer in the case.

At the time, Aguilera's arrest was seen as part of a professional and personal tailspin the singer had fallen into following a series of public hiccups. It came after the 2010 flop of her Bionic album, followed by a hastily canceled U.S. tour, the disappointing returns for her big-screen debut in "Burlesque" and her just-finalized divorce from husband Jordan Bratman. Those incidents were topped by her infamous flubbing of the national anthem at February's Super Bowl and a stumble on the Grammys stage a week later, amid tabloid reports that her partying had gotten out of hand.

And though Aguilera kept quiet about the arrest at the time, she spoke to Us magazine earlier this month about her series of "setbacks" and how she was recovering from them.

"I've gone through a really hard divorce, and anyone who has gone through a divorce will speak about how hard the journey is from start to finish," Aguilera told the magazine. "It's a life-uprooting time and there have been hiccups along the way that unfortunately the whole world gets to witness and judge. ... I can laugh about my own hiccups and my own experiences in life because I'm getting through it."

Aguilera seems on the path back to success with her latest gig as one of four coaches on NBC's upcoming singing contest, "The Voice," where she'll help aspiring singers alongside Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and country singer Blake Shelton.

NBC has been relentlessly promoting the show, which premieres on April 26 and is being touted as competition for "American Idol."

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