Actor Columbus Short fails drug test while on probation

LOS ANGELES -- Court records show that former "Scandal" actor Columbus Short has tested positive for cocaine and marijuana use and is facing a probation violation in a felony assault case.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Leslie E. Brown received details about the failed drug tests Thursday and ordered the actor to appear at a hearing May 9 to address them. Court officials were unable to provide a copy of Short's probation report on Tuesday.

Short pleaded no contest to felony assault in September and was sentenced to three years of supervised probation, two months of community labor and anger management counseling. He was charged after he delivered a running punch during a fight at a family gathering in March 2014. The blow knocked a man unconscious, gave him a concussion and fractured his eye socket.

The actor has completed anger management counseling, but has not yet completed the community labor terms of his sentence.

Short's attorney Ludlow B. Creary II said the actor has previously publicly addressed his drug use and no further comment on it was necessary. Short told Access Hollywood in 2014 that his cocaine use and drinking had caused many of the problems that led to his departure from "Scandal."

Creary said he hopes Short will "complete his probation, and get on with career." He added that he believed Short's legal problems are overblown.

"It's our belief that Mr. Short is going to continue to make progress," Creary said.

Short, 33, left "Scandal" after being charged in the assault case and a separate domestic-violence case involving his estranged wife.

The actor was ordered to pay the man he struck, Fenton Hyche III, more than $14,000 in restitution to cover medical bills and lost wages.