Posted on 08/18/2006 9:59:50 AM PDT by Hal1950
LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Mel Gibson has escaped jail after pleading guilty to drunk driving.
The 'Mad Max' star agreed a plea bargain with prosecutors on Thursday (17.08.06) and in return was given three years probation, ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and told to enrol in an alcohol abuse programme for three months.
Mel - who was also fined $1,300 and had his driving license restricted for 90 days - was arrested on July 28 after being pulled over on Pacific Coast Highway, in Maui, for speeding.
He then launched into an anti-Semitic tirade, during which he allegedly said: "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
Afterwards, the 50-year-old actor profusely apologised for his comments.
Mel said: "I acted like a persson completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.
"I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologise to anyone who I have offended."
Mel - who signed the plea agreement and waived his right to a jury trial on Monday (14.08.06) - did not appear in court for the hearing. His lawyer Blair Berk entered the plea on his behalf.
Malibu's deputy district attorney Gina Satriano said in a statement: "This was an appropriate outcome which addresses all the public safety concerns of drinking and driving."
Everyone is offered that "deal" for a first offense.
Will he have to make a PSA Film about drinking and driving called "The Last Temptation of Otis ?"
Not much of a deal if you ask me. My first drunk driving arrest only got me a year of probation and less than $1000 in fines.
Too bad he wasn't arrested in Durham, NC. The gal who says she was raped by the Duke Lacrosse team stole a taxi, drove through two counties at high speed, tried to run over a policeman, and blew twice the legal limit. She got a misdemeanor.
Of course she has a special relationship with the Durham D.A.
What were Oliver Stone's 'deals'?
I have always had a lot of respect for Mel Gibson. I always saw him as a strong conservative and family man and a good Catholic. He always stood out as an anachronism (along with people like Bruce Willis, Dennis Hopper and a few others) in that putrid city. But with this incident it seems like he is really not much different from the rest of that wretched refuse. Sorry Mel, you just made the list as far as I am concerned.
That's right. Now watch them try to blow this out as a sweet deal for a celebrity. It isn't. It's par for the course.
Entertainment tonight should be milking this for all it's worth this evening.
"after being pulled over on Pacific Coast Highway, in Maui, for speeding."
Note to the Brits: Maui is an island in Hawaii. MALIBU is a community in California, near the PCH. I know, the spelling is really close. :P
They could also use a little spelling help. "enrol?"
I don't know if Gibson has priors on the record, but he has confessed publicly to having driven drunk before this incident. He was also going something like 87 mph for this one. He clearly has a long term problem, totally apart from his sick rant. On top of this, he had plenty of opportunity to get a cab when people at the bar suggested that, and he can also afford to have himself chauffered around in a limo that waits for him while he gets drunk in bars -- an option not available to most people.
I think he got off obscenely easy -- the idea that he'll be fine to get behind the wheel again 3 months from now is just insane. Obviously he has to kill someone before the courts will do anything to stop him. And yes, appallingly, this is "par for the course", and not just for celebrities.
I see drunk people!
LOL...
Remember Patrick Kennedy?
Really? When was this? I hadn't heard/read of it.
If it was just the DUI thing that would be one thing. I would be a hypocrite if I said I have never driven over the limit, I have, though I do not any more. Fortunately I have never been stopped. But his outbursts, assault on a police officer(s) and anti-semitic rhetoric was inexcusable. That's the kind of stuff Sean Penn, Johnny Dope, Martin Sheen and others do. I expected a lot more out of Mel Gibson.
Here is a link to the Haley Joel Osment story:
http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-08-18/
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