A man who broke into Sandra Bullock’s home in 2014 and forced the Oscar-winning actress to hide in her closet while calling police has been sentenced to continued mental health treatment and probation after pleading no contest to felony stalking and burglary charges.
Joshua James Corbett entered the plea Wednesday and was also ordered to stay away from the actress and not attempt to contact her for 10 years. He was arrested inside Bullock’s residence in June 2014 and authorities later uncovered a cache of illegal weapons at his home, but all weapons charges were dropped.
Corbett entered the no contest plea without having an agreement for sentencing with prosecutors, district attorney’s spokesman Greg Risling said.
Bullock never personally appeared during the case, but her frantic 15-minute 911 call was a key piece of evidence that led a judge in 2015 to order Corbett to stand trial.
Corbett, 41, has received mental health evaluations while in custody and his attorneys had hoped to resolve the case with an agreement that ensured he received continued mental health treatment.
He lurked outside the gates of Bullock’s home for several days before hopping the fence on June 8, 2014, according to court testimony. He rang Bullock’s doorbell for several minutes before entering her home through a sunroom door. The actress caught a glimpse of him as he walked past her bedroom door, allowing her to lock herself in a closet and call police.
Corbett was unarmed but he had 25 pages of writings describing his obsession with the actress and describing himself as her husband when police arrested him inside the “Gravity” star’s home.
Corbett’s attorneys had challenged the basis for police searching his home and finding an arsenal of weapons that led to numerous felony firearms charges. Corbett was charged with possessing a machine gun, two counts of possessing an assault weapon and 10 counts of possessing a destructive device. The destructive devices were described as tracer ammunition.
He faced up to 12 years in prison if convicted of those charges. In February, a California appellate court ruled Los Angeles police detectives had violated Corbett’s rights when they obtained authorization to search his home for guns.
During a hearing last year, Corbett described his feelings about the break-in at Bullock’s house, saying he gave police the combination to his gun safe because he felt guilty about breaking into Bullock’s home.
“I’d already hurt somebody that I didn’t intend to,” Corbett said while testifying during a hearing. “I did not want to affect my family with my actions.”
Corbett’s attorneys have suggested he was experiencing opiate withdrawal when he granted police consent to search his home for several legally purchased weapons. A judge rejected their attempts to overturn his consent for the search, which turned up the illegal arms and ammunition.
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