LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson pleaded no contest Friday to a misdemeanor spousal battery charge, just hours after it was filed.
In a plea deal, he was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to attend 52 weeks of domestic-violence counseling. Gibson said little during the brief hearing, except to acknowledge he understood the charge and plea. He left court without talking to reporters.
Gibson, 55, was accused of striking then- girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva during a fight in January 2010 at the actor’s Malibu home. He was charged after an investigation by authorities.
John Lynch, a head deputy district attorney who helped handle the case, said he thought the plea agreement was warranted, given Gibson’s lack of a serious criminal history.
In a separate decision, prosecutors said they found insufficient evidence to charge Grigorieva with trying to extort Gibson.
