Mel Gibson Strikes Plea Deal, Won't Go to Jail

Mel Gibson will plead no contest to simple battery against Oksana Grigorieva as part of a plea deal that will keep him out of jail, TMZ reports. The deal averts what would otherwise have been a sensationalistic domestic-abuse trial over the alleged assault on Jan. 6, with the testimony of Oksana's 13-year-old son at the center of the prosecution's case. Gibson is expected to be in court Friday.

"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 tells Radar. Click here for more on the deal, or here for background on all the sordid details. (More Mel Gibson stories.)