The lead detective in the Mel Gibson investigation turned up "implied threats" against the actor by his ex-girlfriend and believed that a demand by her attorneys for $20 million in exchange for damaging recordings and photos merited prosecution.

The letter from Det. Rodney Wagner of the Sheriff's Department to the prosecutor who declined to file charges alleges three separate instances of extortion in e-mails to Gibson from Oksana Grigorieva and in a March 2010 meeting in which her lawyers talked with Gibson's representatives about how disclosure of the tapes and photos would "ruin" his career.

"By discussing the potential damage to Mr. Gibson's career if the 'evidence' were to be released to the public … it was my opinion, that constituted an implied threat," Wagner wrote.

Eric George, who was Grigorieva's lead attorney in the negotiations, is the son of the state's former chief justice and a campaign fund-raiser for Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. He hosted a $500-per-person cocktail party at his Beverly Hills home in August for Cooley's unsuccessful race for state attorney general and donated $6,500 to his campaign. He declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, Jane Robison, said Cooley had no role in determining whether to bring charges in the Gibson case and downplayed Wagner's letter as "his opinion."

"He's not an attorney. Our attorneys reviewed the case and declined to file based on the evidence and the lack of evidence," Robison said.

Full story: Investigator urged extortion charges for Gibson's ex-girlfriend.

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--Harriet Ryan

Photo: Actor Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva during the Spanish premiere of the film "Edge of Darkness" in Madrid on Feb. 1, 2010. Credit: Reuters

L.A. prosecutors charged in court papers that Mel Gibson "willfully and unlawfully [used] force and violence upon" his girlfriend.

Gibson is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon to answer the charge. Several sources said Gibson is expected to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge.

As part of an agreement with the district attorney's office, the sources said, Gibson would avoid jail time but would be placed on probation.

L.A. prosecutors said they will file a criminal complaint against actor Mel Gibson, related to domestic-violence charges, Friday afternoon at the LAX courthouse.

Several sources said Gibson is expected to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge. Gibson is expected to attend the hearing.

As part of an agreement with the district attorney's office, the sources said, Gibson would avoid jail time but would be placed on probation.

The actor-director's latest legal trouble began last year when his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his daughter, accused him of threatening her with a gun and punching her at his Malibu home.

Mel Gibson is expected to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, a law enforcement source told The Times on Wednesday.

The plea would end a months-long investigation into whether Gibson struck ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

Officials have said that case is closely tied to another investigation into an extortion case involving Gibson and Grigorieva. Prosecutors are still considering that case.

Gibson and Grigorieva also are locked in a bitter custody dispute over their year-old daughter, Lucia.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, said if Gibson does plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge, he would face counseling but no jail time.

The source said the plea could be announced as early as Wednesday.

[Updated at 11:13 a.m.: Gibson’s attorney, Blair Berk, released a statement saying Gibson wanted a quick resolution to the case for the sake of his children and because of the “personal price” he would pay with the media attention that the case would have drawn.

“Mel's priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter Lucia and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made,” she said in the statement. “It is with only that in mind that he asked me to approach the District Attorney with a proposal that would bring all of this to an immediate end.”]

[Updated, 9:58 p.m.: Other sources close to the case say Gibson will actually plead no contest to the charges. A no contest plea has the same effect in criminal court as a guilty plea.]

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-- Jack Leonard

Photo: Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson. Credit: Los Angeles Times

A judge Thursday denied a motion by Oksana Grigorieva's lawyer that sought to limit what Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies could take from her computer and cellphone as part of an extortion investigation involving her ex-boyfriend, actor-producer Mel Gibson.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon said that if Daniel Horowitz, the attorney for Grigorieva, had issues with the way sheriff's officials were conducting their investigation, he could bring up the matter in criminal court.

But Gordon, who continues to handle the paternity case between Grigorieva and Gibson and signed a search warrant allowing detectives to search Grigorieva's computer, cellphone and other items, said it was not his role to involve himself in oversight of a criminal investigation.

Grigorieva's attorney said outside court that he was disappointed by the judge's ruling, saying that the computer and phone files copied by sheriff's deputies were highly personal. But he acknowledged that there was no evidence that any of those materials had been disseminated or that detectives had not acted in good faith.

"It's not embarrassing, it's private," Horowitz said. "Private things should not be seen by law enforcement officers."

But sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said that what Horowitz was objecting to was standard operating procedure for law enforcement investigations.

"All investigations are personal and private, that's why law enforcement investigators don't talk about them," Whitmore said. "The judge did the right thing by letting the Sheriff's Department do its job. The motion should have never been filed."

Sheriff's detectives continue to investigate whether Grigorieva or someone close to her extorted money from the actor, Whitmore said. The department had previously completed an investigation into whether the actor hit Grigorieva and had turned over its findings to the district attorney's office.

No suspect has been named in the extortion case, but investigators have reviewed evidence that includes text messages and e-mails, and have interviewed Gibson, two of Grigorieva's former attorneys, and others involved in the couple's messy breakup and paternity battle.

Grigorieva reiterated outside court that she was not involved in any extortion.

"I am not an extortionist," said Grigorieva, flanked by her lawyers on the steps of the civil courthouse. "I've never asked for any money at all."

 -- Andrew Blankstein
twitter.com/anblanx

As prosecutors are mulling whether to file domestic-violence charges against Mel Gibson, his alleged victim is claiming in a new interview that the actor punched and kicked her and once brandished a gun in front of her.

Oksana Grigorieva, a model and Gibson's ex-girlfriend, alleged in an interview with People magazine that, during one argument, Gibson hit her while she was holding their baby, Lucia.

"I thought he would kill me," Grigorieva is quoted as saying.

Gibson's attorneys have disputed her account in discussions with sheriff's detectives, who recently handed over their case to L.A. County prosecutors.

Sources have told The Times that prosecutors are reviewing that case but are unlikely to move forward until the Sheriff's Department has finished its investigation into claims that Grigorieva or someone close to her was attempting to extort money from Gibson.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing, said the cases are heavily intertwined.

No suspect has been formally named in the extortion case, but detectives have interviewed people involved in the couple's messy separation. Officials said they plan to interview two lawyers who represented Grigorieva, but sources said they are not suspects.

-- Richard Winton

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is still investigating claims that actor Mel Gibson was extorted by an ex-girlfriend or someone close to her, officials said Tuesday.

The extortion allegations came after Gibson was accused of hitting ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

Detectives wrapped up the domestic violence investigation two weeks ago, but prosecutors have not decided whether to press charges against the actor, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Tuesday. Prosecutors are expected to wait until the separate extortion investigation is complete before making a decision on the domestic violence charges, according to a source.

The extortion investigation was scheduled to be completed about the same time as the domestic violence investigation.  Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore could not say when the extortion investigation would be complete.

Evidence reviewed by sheriff’s detectives in the two investigations include text messages and e-mails between the couple, and interviews with Gibson and others.

-- Robert Faturechi