'Django' Actress Admits Charge over Sex in Car Case

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The "Django Unchained" actress accused of having sex in a car in public last year pleaded no contest Monday to disturbing the peace, and was ordered to apologize to police officers.

The African American star Daniele Watts, who initially claimed that police action was racially motivated, accepted a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace along with her boyfriend.

In exchange prosecutors dropped charges of committing a lewd act in public, which could have seen her and white boyfriend Brian James Lucas face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

As part of the deal the couple were ordered to issue written apologies to three Los Angeles police officers, and to perform 40 hours of community service, according to the LA City Attorney's Office.

At the time Watts -- who played Coco in Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning 2012 film "Django Unchained" -- took to her Facebook page to complain after the September 11 incident in Studio City, an upscale neighborhood of north Los Angeles, in which she was handcuffed and briefly detained.

The pair insisted they were only showing public affection, after police responded to a radio call from a concerned citizen about "indecent exposure" inside a silver Mercedes with the door open.

Police said initially that "upon further investigation it was determined that no crime had been committed," while an audio tape recorded by the officer involved appeared to refute Watts' claim of racial profiling.

But following the emergence of various videos and photos, published notably by the TMZ celebrity news website, they decided to investigate further and brought charges against the couple in October last year.

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