Mel Gibson Plea Deal

Mel Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of battering his former girlfriend on Friday, under a deal that will let him avoid jail and deny liability for the incident in any civil litigation.

Judge Stephanie Sautner of Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, accepted the plea and sentenced Mr. Gibson to 36 months of probation.

He must also pay about $600 in fines and costs and must undergo 52 weeks of counseling while continuing what officials described as separate counseling related to his mental health.

The sentence also includes 16 hours of community service with Mending Kids International, a charity of which his ex-wife, Robyn Moore Gibson, is the president, according to its Web site

mendingkids.org

Three-year old Daniel Cangas is the youngest of 11 children.  He was born with a rare genetic disorder that occurs in 1 of every 300,000 births –– a disorder that caused him to have a malformed head, sunken face, visual abnormalities and webbed hands and feet. In Haiti, where Daniel is from, children that are born with overt physical abnormalities are shunned.

Desperate for help, Daniel’s parents brought him to the World Harvest Mission in Jolibebert, Haiti. Aside from Daniel’s genetic disorder, he was also suffering from severe malnourishment and was bloated with parasitic worms. World Harvest stepped in and treated his malnutrition and worms but were unable to do more.  Without corrective surgeries, Daniel’s chances were poor at best.

Soon after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Mending Kids International learned of Daniel and his desperate medical condition.  Moving quickly, MKI brought Daniel to Los Angeles to receive the care and surgeries he needed.  Daniel remains in Southern California undergoing a series of complex, corrective surgeries and living with a loving MKI host family.

“Thank you,” Mr. Gibson said to the prosecutor, Simone Shay, as the hearing concluded.

Mr. Gibson answered quietly when addressed throughout the hearing but said little, other than to acknowledge that he understood the charge and punishment. He wore a dark blue suit with an open-collar dress shirt.

Asked in a brief news conference whether it was appropriate to have Mr. Gibson do community service for a group associated with his ex-wife, Ms. Shay simply said that the agreement had been reached in the interests of protecting the public and those involved in the case.

Oksana Grigorieva, the former girlfriend whom Mr. Gibson was convicted of battering, was cleared on Friday of claims that she had tried to extort Mr. Gibson in connection with recordings of his obscene and threatening rants toward her. The Los Angeles County sheriff investigated the extortion claim after Mr. Gibson raised it. The prosecutor, according to a charge evaluation work sheet made public on Friday, decided there was not enough evidence for a charge.

Mr. Gibson is required to report for booking by a police agency here within a week. He must pay his fines and show evidence of compliance with the sentencing terms on June 9.

Resolution of the case clears only one of the legal problems that have clouded Mr. Gibson’s life and career as he prepares for his next film, “The Beaver,” to open in theaters in May. He is still in a custody battle with Ms. Grigorieva over their child and faces the possibility of a civil suit over his behavior toward her.

Under a protective order that was issued in conjunction with Friday’s court action, Mr. Gibson is forbidden to annoy, harass or threaten anyone involved in the battery case.