Mel Gibson Gets Plea Deal in Criminal Abuse Case

By Zach Dionne Posted Mar 9th 2011 12:45PM

Mel Gibson has taken a plea deal in his ongoing criminal case, TMZ reports. The site's sources say Mel will make a court appearance Friday and make a no contest battery plea, meaning he will not spend time in jail for a reported incident of abuse on Jan. 6, 2010.

RadarOnline.com reports that Alexander "Sasha" Dalton, the son of Mel's allegedly abused baby mama Oksana Grigorieva, was set to testify as the star witness. Sasha, 13, is the child of Oksana and actor Timothy Dalton.

"One major reason why this case was being brought against Mel Gibson, more than a year after the alleged incident took place, is because Sasha was made available to testify at a potential criminal trial against Mel," a source close to the case tells Radar. "Sasha's involvement and cooperation in the case was absolutely essential, and because he is a minor, both of his parents had to agree to let him participate, and that took some time to make happen."

"Even though Mel believed he could win the case, he struck the deal to protect his loved ones," TMZ writes.

Gibson's lawyer, Blair Berk, released the following statement to TMZ:

"I know from almost 20 years as a criminal defense lawyer that sometimes justice can come for a client at too high a personal price. That is particularly so for Mel, whose right to due process can only be exercised in this case with an enormous media circus attached.

Mel's priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter Lucia and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made. It is with only that in mind that he asked me to approach the District Attorney with a proposal that would bring all of this to an immediate end."

Though the criminal case appears close to an end, RadarOnline contends that Mel's image-rehab is far from over. "The way many people perceive Mel is forever changed," Radar's Managing Editor and Executive Vice President David Perel tells PopEater. "Mel's taped rants, with racist, violent and misogynistic language, will never be erased from the public consciousness. The aftereffects will linger for a long, long time."

See fan reactions to the fierce Mel Gibson audio rants that started it all:

Tags: Mel Gibson, Oksana Grigorieva

Comments

(41)

Wednesday 09 March

By gary williams

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We all make mistakes in life. I hope he can now move on with his life and would like to see him make more movies. If nothing else he is highly talented. Those of you who want to talk bad of him need to ask yourselves, do you have a perfect history in life ?

By mousey

no, the question these fools need to ask themselves, " are they themselves, racist, reverse anti-semitic abusers, etc... they are the ones full of crap, can't forgive or forget.

By Suzanne

Whatever feelings or opinions of Mel Gibson his actions were of a criminal nature; since it is the first time at least I have ever heard of him doing something like this I think the punishment should be light but it is a wakeup call of someone who needs help. Maybe the pressures of his kind of life are just too much but it does seem he threw away a wonderful life and created a life of trouble for himself.

By CountNomis

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You haters may dump on Mel all you want, but he's still A-OK in my book. So you can go to hell.

By amew360

( basking in the heat of your warm Christian [ or Catholic, anyway ] love )

Thursday 10 March

By jimbo

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

no matter what, I love the guy & it covers a multitude of sins

By jack

Mel Gibson is an antisemetic creep sicko wierdo woman abuser and all around idiot who needs to go back where he came from and get the hell out of Malibu!

By MeMeMe

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Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Tom Cruz all give me the creeps.

By Therese

It's women like her who give all women a bad name. She was only there for what she could get out of him to begin with. And, with that being said, she got way more than she ever deserved.

By L

Mel Gibson is awesome. He met a loser of a woman and now he is sufferring for it. I LOVE U MEL. Talented, handsome, terrific actor, dozens of films under his belt. I feel terrible for him. Men have to remember to keep it in their pants. Not all beautiful woman on the outside (i dont think she is even pretty) are beautiful on the inside.

By Bruce

GEE.... This is almost as interesting as Charlie Sheen's crap.... when will the world stop worrying about these morons???

By Richard877

Money talks as usual.

Friday 11 March

By JohnnyTallTrees

ppl leave the stars alone its their biz not yours so '''' off

By Linda

Hey, all you people are getting is what the tabloids are printing. They are mostly liars, so you really don't have the facts. Please don't judge Mel or anyone else on what they are reporting. They're out to sell papers only. Don't believe what you read.

By Sandy

I think a new reality show is in order. The stars would be Charley, Mel and Lindsey. They can call it 'Two and a Half idiots'.

By JEB BUCKINGHAM

In other words, Mel Gibson, the famous movie star and big celebrity gets off with a slap on the wrist.....again, like so many other famous movie stars and celebrities. Must be nice.

By Koz

I took a year to brain was the kid.

By joey

there's only 1 road warrior .... u owe me a tank of gas for that 1 mel ;)

By YellowRose3218

The russian is a gold digger, true, but mel is as sorry as she is. But bs talks, and money walks, every time in thos country.
I hope he gets exactly what he deserves.

By Lily

Joan, Bill Clinton got a black woman pregnant and pushed a few women around. He is no paragon of virtue but just had a wife who loves power more than her pride.

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