SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Former San Jose Sharks forward Mark Bell has pleaded no contest to felony drunken driving and hit-and-run charges and will serve six months in a Santa Clara County jail, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Bell, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in June, had faced nearly four years in state prison if convicted of both felony charges. He entered the plea Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, said prosecutor Cindy Seeley Hendrickson.

It was not immediately clear when Bell will begin serving his sentence. A call to his lawyer, Ken Robinson, was not immediately returned.

Bell was arrested in September 2006 after his Toyota sedan rear-ended a pickup truck in an early morning accident in Milpitas, a town in the San Jose foothills.

The truck's 40-year-old driver received head injuries and cuts. Bell walked a short distance from the scene and was arrested. His blood-alcohol level was higher than 0.15, nearly double the state's legal limit of 0.08, prosecutors said.

At the time of his arrest, Bell had not yet played a single game for the Sharks after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks, where one season he was named Chicago's "Man of the Year" for his charity work and community service.

He was a disappointment in his only season in San Jose, managing just 11 goals and 10 assists in 71 games. When he was traded this summer, Bell had two years and $4.5 million remaining on the contract he signed after joining the Sharks.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

hey, you got that from the associated press!