Roger Avary Pleads Not Guilty To Manslaughter Charges

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Roger Avary pleaded Not Guilty at a Ventura California courthouse on Friday to manslaughter and other charges connected to a January 13th single car collision which resulted in the death of another passenger. 34-year-old Andreas Zini was visiting Avary as part of his Honeymoon when the accident occurred. Prosecutors have said that his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit. The Los Angeles Times reports:

"Now that charges have been filed, Avary hopes to quickly resolve the case, his attorney said. Besides felony manslaughter, Avary faces two felony counts of causing bodily injury while intoxicated, charges that could bring 11 years behind bars. A pretrial conference is set for Feb. 20 in Ventura."

Avary co-wrote Pulp Fiction with Quentin Tarantino, for which he received an Oscar. He went on to make his feature filmaking directorial debut with Killing Zoe, and followed that up with a big screen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction. He has since penned the screenplay for the video game to film adaptation of Silent Hill and co-wrote Beowulf with Neil Gaiman. Before the accident, Avary signed on to write and direct a big screen adaptation of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, based on the first-person-shooter computer game.