'Growing Pains' Actress Pleads Guilty

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) _ Former ``Growing Pains'' child star Tracey Gold pleaded guilty to driving drunk when her sport utility vehicle overturned, hurting her husband and two of her three children.

Friday, January 7th 2005, 11:52 am

By: News On 6

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) _ Former ``Growing Pains'' child star Tracey Gold pleaded guilty to driving drunk when her sport utility vehicle overturned, hurting her husband and two of her three children.

Tracey Gold Marshall, 35, sobbed as she stood before a Superior Court judge Thursday and heard the charges against her _ one count of felony drunken driving causing injury to her husband and two allegations that she caused injury to two of her sons.

When asked how she intended to plead, she replied an almost inaudible, ``guilty.''

The former actress, who played Carol Seaver during the seven-year run of ``Growing Pains,'' which ended production in 1992, was behind the wheel of the SUV on Sept. 3, 2004, when it went off a highway in Moorpark and rolled down an embankment.

She will be sentenced March 21. The crimes could lead to a five-year prison term, although Deputy District Attorney John Vanarelli said she would likely be placed on probation because it was her first drunken driving offense.

Mrs. Marshall, her husband Roby Marshall and defense lawyers declined comment.

``For good reasons, we've decided not to discuss this until it is presented to the court for sentencing,'' defense attorney Chuck Samonsky said.

Mrs. Marshall and her infant son weren't hurt in the crash, but her husband suffered neck injuries and the couple's 5- and 7-year-old sons suffered minor injuries.