 |
"After a complete review of the investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department ...there is insufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," according to the DA.
"Witnesses gave, in different interviews, conflicting stories" of what occurred during the confrontation, said DA office spokeswoman Jane Robison, the Associated Press reports.
Mark Werksman, O'Neal's attorney, said prosecutors were correct in not pursuing the case. "It's a tremendous relief for Mr. O'Neal to have this resolved favorably in this manner," said Werksman.
O'Neal, 66, was arrested in his Malibu home Feb. 3 after deputies "determined that Mr. Griffin O'Neal was assaulted by his father during a family dispute," police said at the time.
O'Neal's manager had characterized the fight as "an internal family disagreement" and claimed O'Neal was defending himself when his 42-year-old son swung a fireplace poker at him. (Griffin's late mother, actress Joanna Cook Moore, was married to Ryan O'Neal from 1963 to 1967.)
The fight came just a day after the elder O'Neal and his longtime companion Farrah Fawcett were told Fawcett was cancer free after treatment for anal cancer. Fawcett has subsequently found out the cancer has returned.
