HIGH MARKS FOR GIBSON IN DUI CASE
August 23, 2007 Over a year after being busted on drunken-driving charges, Mel Gibson is getting high marks from a Malibu judge.
On Thursday, the Oscar-wining actor/director got a positive progress report from the judge for undergoing treatment following an infamous alcohol-laced, anti-Semitic rant in July 2006, Reuters reports.
The August 23 court date was the final progress hearing in Gibson's case.
Gibson's attorney, Blair Berk (who also represents Lindsay Lohan in her DUI arrests), represented her client in court. Gibson was not present.
Berk confirmed at the brief hearing that Gibson had completed the required course of action stemming from his no-contest plea last August, including attending four and a half months of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which he was required to attend five days a week, and paying $1,400 in fines, according to Reuters.
On July 28, 2006, Gibson was arrested on a drunken-driving charge after an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy clocked him driving 87 mph in a 45-mph zone. When he was stopped by police, Gibson notoriously launched into a sexist and anti-Semitic tirade.
A month later, the Oscar winner, who registered a 0.12 blood-alcohol level, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI.
In addition to his daily AA meetings and the fines, Judge Lawrence J. Mira also sentenced Gibson to three years' probation. At Thursday's hearing, Mira said any additional AA meetings Gibson chose to attend would be on a strictly voluntary basis.
