Actor Mel Gibson is expected to plead no contest to a charge of battery and avoid jail time for the domestic abuse claim made by his ex-girlfriend. Gibson and ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who is the mother of his infant daughter Lucia, have been at odds for well over a year, leading them to end their affair in April, 2010. Since then, they have waged a bitter custody battle over Lucia and made claims and counterclaims against each other.

Gibson punched her and knocked out her teeth during an argument in January, 2010. Last summer, audiotapes of a man widely believed to be Gibson were posted on celebrity website Radaronline.com, and on them, the man rants at Grigorieva making racial slurs and sexist comments.

For his part, Gibson has claimed that Grigorieva used the audiotapes to try to extort a better settlement from him over their break-up – a deal that has been reported to be valued as high as $20 million.

The tapes damaged Gibson's Hollywood career, which already had suffered a major setback following anti-Semitic remarks he made during a drunk driving arrest in 2006.