Giulio Marcocchi/Sipa PressEarlier this month, the district attorney quietly announced, ahead of Mel Gibson's arraignment on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, that it had decided not to charge Oksana Grigorieva with extortion after she allegedly tried to bilk $20 million from the actor in exchange for keeping his infamous phone rants under wraps.
Well, it turns out that Mel wasn't the only one pissed about that decision.
The lead detective investigating the case reportedly pushed hard for not one but three extortion charges to be formally filed against Oksana, declaring as much in a letter written to the prosecution in charge of the case. The letter itself was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
In the document, Det. Rodney Wagner argued that the Sheriff's Department's six-month investigation into the accusations showed definitive evidence that Grigorieva made "implied threats" against Gibson, who himself knows from intimidation.
Specifically, Wagner cited a meeting that took place between Grigorieva's lawyers and Gibson's representatives, in which Team Oksana made it clear that the tapes' surfacing would "ruin" Mel's 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 a threat," wrote Wagner.
Incidentally, the L.A. Times also pointed out—you know, just 'cause—that Grigorieva's lead attorney, Eric George, is a campaign fundraiser for District Attorney Steve Cooley.
However, the D.A.'s office made clear that Wagner's letter of recommendation was just that—a recommendation based on his own opinion—and that the lawyers in the case were in no way beholden to it.
And clearly they disagreed, as the D.A.'s office—who Wagner said required a direct threat to pursue charges rather than just an implied one—ultimately declared that there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Grigorieva.
Gibson, as we know, didn't fare quite so well.