(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-06 11:37

Kiefer Sutherland was sentenced Wednesday to 48 days in jail in his drunken driving case, prosecutors said.

Sutherland appeared in court with his attorney for the sentencing. He had pleaded no contest for driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 following his Sept. 25 arrest.

Assistant City Attorney Dan Jeffries said a Superior Court judge ordered that the actor serve 48 days in Glendale city jail. Sutherland must begin the sentence before March 30, Jeffries said.

The actor was already on probation for a 2004 drunken driving arrest when he was stopped by police shortly after midnight as he left a Hollywood industry party at the trendy Area nightclub. Authorities said he failed a field sobriety test after being pulled over for making an illegal U-turn.

He pleaded no contest in October to DUI and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 while still on probation for a previous arrest.

Sutherland had also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge in 2004. He was sentenced in that case to five years probation, 50 hours of community service and ordered to attend an alcohol treatment program. Authorities said he fulfilled the community service and alcohol treatment obligations.

The 40-year-old actor, who stars as the dashing counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on "24," was also convicted of alcohol-related reckless driving in 1993, according to the city attorney's office.

"I'm very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I'm deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers," Sutherland said after he entered his plea in the latest case.

Sutherland won last year's best actor Emmy.