An anonymous source who is directly engaged with the case revealed to the Associate Press that Gibson would be able to undergo counseling instead of serving time in jail. As bail bondsmen, this is consistent with first time domestic violence charges received by a defendant in Los Angeles County. In other words, it does not appear that Gibson is getting any special treatment.

According to Blair Berk, Gibson’s attorney, he wanted to settle with the plea agreement after he prioritized his children’s interests, which includes his infant daughter shared with Grigorieva. Last year, Grigorieva accused Gibson of domestic violence and since then, they’ve been in a bitter battle over custody rights of their daughter, Lucia. Gibson has been seeking an extortion case against Grigorieva which has yet to be determined by prosecutors.

According to a statement released by attorney Beck, she stated “I know from almost 20 years as a criminal defense lawyer that sometimes justice can come for a client at too high a personal price. That is particularly so for Mel, whose right to due process can only be exercised in this case with an enormous media circus attached.”

The lawsuit details repercussions for Deputy James Mee’s emotional distress, mental suffering as well as damages for the loss of income, medical bills, and benefits. Mee claims his superiors forced him to remove any reference to anti-semitic slurs by Mr. Gibson.  Furthermore, the racial comments and slurs appeared to have been leaked on a celebrity website.

Mee declares that after Gibson’s arrest, he was transferred and has not been eligible for awards since the incident. The lawsuit further states that the department has violated certain policies by avoiding the investigation of the leak of information for 4 years which has inadvertently caused severe damage to Mee and his eligibility to be promoted.

Steve Whitmore, the L.A. Sheriff’s spokesman has denied all allegations. He further stated, “The whole story is not being told in this lawsuit and we look forward to telling it. It has nothing to do with religious discrimination. We categorically deny those allegations.”

During the leak investigation, Mee was suspected for his report leak. The Los Angeles DA’s office reportedly didn’t want to press charges against Mee.

Along with the claims that Mee was to alter his report for the Gibson arrest, his lawsuit also states that a tape existed of Gibson in the booking area and was erased by a sergeant in the department.

Etan Z. Lorant, Mee’s attorney stated that the video had been recorded by a handheld camera and displayed Gibson using religious slurs. Lorant said, “He’s done nothing wrong,” when speaking about Mee’s reputation being in cahoots over this incident and the hopes that the lawsuit will restore it.

Whitmore, in rebuttal, states that nothing from the Gibson case has been destroyed or altered.

However, in an attempt to uncover what some are saying was a media leak from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, authorities have discovered two calls were made to Harvey Levin of TMZ the exact day of Gibson’s arrest. 

One of the arresting Sheriff Deputies, James Mee stated he did nothing wrong and declined to comment any further. But phone records from his home indicate otherwise. It was found that two phone calls were made to TMZ the same day. Upon further investigation it was found there were 8 phone calls from made Levin to Deputy Mee’s home two days after the arrest of Gibson.

Los Angeles prosecutors declined to file any criminal charges against Mee, saying they could not conclude or identify who made the calls or who leaked certain parts about Mel Gibson’s arrest.

Later, TMZ posted excerpts from Mee’s original report on its website, giving details of Gibson’s tirade, outbursts and threats.

A probe was launched and search warrant’s were served by the Sheriff’s Department, however, no evidence was found to be incriminating enough to prove any payments were made to Sheriff Mee. Further, none of his home equipment, e.g., fax or email was used to deliver the original arrest report.

While the Mel Gibson media leak mystery continues, bail bondsmen have believed for years that insiders in the Los Angeles jail system have leaked, sold or otherwise tipped off unethical bondsmen about arrests and inmate information for higher bail amounts. We hope that the City Attorney, District Attorney and Federal Officials might be as diligent for a lesser known, but potentially more egregious abuse of power.