Prosecutors won’t file charge against deputy who arrested Mel Gibson for report leaks

No charges over Mel Gibson DUI report leaks

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors have declined to press charges against the sheriff’s deputy who arrested Mel Gibson three years ago, citing a lack of proof he leaked details about the case.

The case against Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee was closed in July, according to a nine-page charge evaluation worksheet first obtained Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Mee had been the target of investigations into whether he leaked his report about Gibson’s report, including details about the actor’s anti-Semitic tirade. Prosecutors found that the leaks were criminal, but that they couldn’t be tied to Mee.

The celebrity Web site TMZ.com first posted details about Gibson’s rants after his 2006 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving. A judge on Tuesday agreed to expunge the “Braveheart” actor and director’s drunken driving conviction after he successfully completed the terms of his probation.

Records obtained by investigators showed that there were calls between Mee’s residence and TMZ’s founder, Harvey Levin, but that it was impossible to say who made the calls on Mee’s end of the line.

Sheriff’s detectives presented their case to prosecutors in February 2008, but it wasn’t until this summer that Deputy James Mee’s financial records were reviewed. No improper payments to Mee, his wife or daughter were found.

Levin denied to investigators that he paid anyone at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for info contained in his site’s reports, which dramatically raised its prominence.

The prosecutor who reviewed the case against Mee determined that only three sheriff’s employees had access to the information by the time it was released. No cases have been presented against the other workers, who include a sergeant and lieutenant who oversaw Mee’s reports on the arrest.

The report released Wednesday shows that Mee’s superiors made him rewrite his initial report, which included details about Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks. Mee was told to write a sanitized version that only included certain details about Gibson’s intoxication; details of Gibson’s tirade was then put into a supplemental report.

Mee’s attorney, Richard Shinee, said his client was ostracized and reassigned after arresting Gibson.