Mel Gibson is scheduled to appear in court on Friday to face domestic violence charges related to a fight on January 6, 2010, with former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
Gibson has struck a deal with prosecutors and will plead no contest to simple battery, and will spend no time in jail.
Gibson’s attorney, Blair Berk, issued a statement to TMZ, saying, “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.”
Berk goes on, “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.”
According to reports, the star witness in the case was to be Grigorieva’s 13-year-old son with actor Timothy Dalton, who was an eyewitness to the argument on the evening Mel allegedly punched Oksana in the face and choked her while she was holding their infant daughter.
The reason the incident took so long to investigate was because it was not immediately reported to authorities. “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 told RadarOnline. “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.”
photo: WENN