Mel Gibson Enters Not Guilty Plea in Spousal Battery Case
Mel Gibson entered a “no contest” plea in a Los Angeles Courtroom today to a misdemeanor simple domestic battery charge. In exchange for his plea to Penal Code 243(e)(1) California’s spousal battery law, the actor will be placed on 36 months summary probation, must perform 16 hours of community service and undergo 52 weeks of batterer’s counseling. The judge also ordered him to have only “peaceful contact” with Oksana Grigorieva, the alleged victim in the case. He will serve no jail time.
This plea stems from an incident involving Grigorieva, Gibson’s ex-girlfriend that took place last year. Grigorieva accused Gibson of threatening her with a gun and punching her at his Malibu home last year. Some secret recordings of Gibson ranting and raving were leaked to a celebrity website. In them, Gibson confirmed the allegations, telling her “You fu--ing deserved it.”
The plea bargain isn’t so unusual. Many people convicted of Penal Code 243(e)(1) California’s spousal battery law do not serve jail time. A one-year batterer’s program is routinely imposed, as is community service. This does not appear to be a case of “celebrity justice” but rather a fairly typical sentence for this type of offense.
