Prosecutor considers charging Ryan O'Neal

Los Angeles prosecutors were considering today whether to charge Ryan O’Neal with assault with a deadly weapon for firing a gun during a fight with his son at the actor’s Malibu home.

The case was under review, and it was unclear when or whether charges would be brought, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

O’Neal, 65, was arrested on February 3 by police investigating assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm.

The actor has said he fired a warning shot to scare his 42-year-old son, Griffin, who had attacked him with a fire poker. He said he ducked and the poker struck Griffin’s pregnant girlfriend.

Griffin O’Neal’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said her clients rejected the assertion that Ryan O’Neal acted in self-defence.

O’Neal’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, has said his client suffered a cut hand and bruises to his arms and legs during the dispute, which was over how Griffin treated O’Neal’s younger son, Redmond O’Neal.