Prosecutors declined Friday to charge Ryan O'Neal with assault with a deadly weapon for firing a gun during a brawl with his older son earlier this year. There was insufficient evidence "to prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," said a report from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. O'Neal, 66, was arrested at his Malibu home Feb.
3 for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm. He was freed on a $50,000 bond. The actor has said he fired a warning shot to scare his 42-year-old son, Griffin O'Neal, who had attacked him with a fireplace poker.
He said his son lashed out at him during a fight, but he ducked and the poker struck Griffin O'Neal's girlfriend, Joanna Berry, who was eight months' pregnant. She received a serious eye injury and needed stitches for a facial cut, said Gloria Allred, an attorney who represented both Berry and Griffin O'Neal. The father and son had clashed before.
In 1983, police were called to their home after a fight in which Ryan O'Neal knocked out two of Griffin O'Neal's teeth, the Los Angeles Times reported. No charges were filed. Griffin O'Neal also has had several
He was found guilty of reckless boating in a 1986 accident that killed the son of film director Francis Ford Coppola, and later was given an 18-day jail sentence for failing to perform community service ordered in that case. Ty Pennington, host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," pleaded no contest Friday in a misdemeanor drunk driving case. Pennington, 42, had been charged with two misdemeanor counts - driving with a blood-alcohol level above the 0.
08 percent limit and driving under the influence of alcohol. He pleaded no contest to the first count and the other count was dismissed, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. Mateljan said it was a normal disposition for a first offense.
A judge placed Pennington on three years' probation, restricted his driving privileges for 90 days and ordered him to participate in a 90-day alcohol program and attend a Mothers Against Drunk Drivers meeting, Mateljan said. He faced up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the charges by a Superior Court jury. Pennington was arrested May 5 and released after posting $5,000 bail.
Paul Newman says he's given up acting. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," Newman, 82, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention.
So that's pretty much a closed book for me." Newman, star of films such as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," added: "I've been doing it for 50 years. That's enough.
" He has other plates spinning. Newman plans to focus on the Dressing Room, his new organic restaurant in Westport, Conn., and his Hole in the Wall Gang camps for critically ill children.
His Newman's Own brand of dressings, pasta sauces, popcorn and salsa has raised more than $200 million for charities. Newman, who won an Oscar for his leading role in 1986's "The Color of Money," was last seen - or heard, rather - as the voice of Doc Hudson in the 2006 animated feature "Cars." Actor James Arness, 84 .
.. Sportscaster Brent Musburger, 68 .
.. Singer-drummer Levon Helm of The Band, 67 .
.. Steel guitar player Gates Nichols of Confederate Railroad, 63 .
.. Drummer Garry Peterson of The Guess Who, 62 .
.. Singer Stevie Nicks, 59 .
.. Actor Philip Michael Thomas ("Miami Vice"), 58 .
.. Actress Pam Grier, 58 .
.. Country singer Hank Williams Jr.
, 58 ...
Actress Margaret Colin, 50 ...
Country keyboardist Dave Robbins of BlackHawk, 48 ...
Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, 45 ...
Singer Lenny Kravitz, 43 ...
Actress Helena Bonham Carter, 41 ...
Drummer Phillip Rhodes of The Gin Blossoms, 39 ...
Actor Joseph Fiennes ("Shakespeare in Love"), 37 ...
Singer Joey Kibble of Take 6, 36 ...
"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone, 36.
News RSS