Los Angeles (CNN) -- Actor Mel Gibson entered a "no contest" plea Friday afternoon to a misdemeanor battery charge relating to an incident a year ago involving his former girlfriend.

Los Angeles County Judge Stephanie Sautner accepted a plea deal that puts the actor on unsupervised probation for three years and requires Gibson to complete 52 weeks of anger management counseling.

"No contest, pursuant to People v. West," Gibson said, when Judge Sautner asked for his plea.

The "West plea" allows a defendant to enter a no contest plea without admitting guilt.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Simone Shay told the court the prosecution accepted the plea deal "to lessen the trauma and impact of any court proceedings on the victim and minor witness."

Defense lawyer Blair Berk said Gibson agreed to the plea "because it's in the best interest of his children."

A trial on the charge would likely have required Oksana Grigorieva and her minor son to testify as witnesses to the January 6, 2010 incident.

Grigorieva was not in the courtroom, but her lawyer gave CNN a written statement that indicated she was satisfied with the resolution.

"Ms. Grigorieva will now concentrate on co-parenting Lucia, resuming her charitable work for the children of Chernobyl and moving forward with her life," the statement said.

Gibson must also complete 16 hours of community service with "Mending Kids," a charity, Judge Sautner said.

The sentence also included a $400 domestic violence fine and $180 in other fees, the judge said.

Judge Saunter also imposed a restraining order on Gibson, but it still allows him to have contact with Grigorieva, the mother of his young daughter, Lucia.

"Mel's only priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter Lucia and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made," Berk said in a statement earlier in the week.

Prosecutors considered evidence gathered by sheriff's investigators to decide if a domestic violence case would be filed against Gibson because of the incident a year ago involving Grigorieva.

Detectives also investigated Gibson's charge that Grigorieva, a Russian musician, tried to extort money from him with recordings she made of his telephone calls, a Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman said.

No charges were filed against her.

Gibson and Grigorieva are in a bitter legal fight over custody of their daughter. The sheriff's investigation findings have been in the hands of prosecutors since August.

As I've said a million times, if you get famous in that world, you're working for the Jєωs somehow.

I realize many Catholics like The Passion.  I don't.  From the bits and pieces I've seen, I find it aesthetically repugnant, I feel no love in the film.  But from what I can tell, there's nothing heretical about it, so fine.  

That being said, I must admit I was blown away by Apocalypto when I saw it before my conversion.  I think Mel's talents were much more suited to that subject.  The Mayan temple was an obvious analogy for the Twin Towers and it worked incredibly well.  The film brilliantly showed a decrepit society that was kept in fear by ritual and spectacle, by media black-magic, exactly like our own.  I think it has bare breasts though...  

Anyway, before Passion, and after the Passion, Mel continued to spew out garbage.  His "comeback" vehicle, Edge of Darkness, went right back to the usual Gibsonian theme of revenge killing -- this is a mortal sin, for anyone who's still out there listening... It is no light matter to make a film that stokes up middle-aged men to dream of murderous revenge, okay?  This was AFTER The Passion, for those who want to say, "Oh well, Mel didn't know what he was doing before..." when he made the Lethal Weapon series and things like that.

Those who have turned Gibson into some kind of Catholic martyr aren't really looking at the full picture, though I admire that they always look at the best of people.  I realize my tendency is to focus on the worst.  However, the reality is that those who have encouraged him to stay in Hollywood as if he is fighting against the system, well, let's just say they're not helping this man, whose number one priority should be to GET OUT OF HOLLYWOOD as soon as possible.

As for what's happening in his life, look, the man is miserable, he is trapped in the looking-glass.  I was a wannabe actor, I had a big ego, and I know how vanity works -- you don't even see reality after a certain point, you think you're the center of the universe.  Then when that universe crumbles, when you begin to realize you can't just do what you want forever without consequences, you begin to crack.  That is what we're seeing with Mel.  He's trying to charm his way out of a situation, but the problem is that the charm is no longer there.  He can no longer just rely on his looks and on his personality.  It's truly terrifying, the devil is making mincemeat out of this man.  

I saw a video, I'll try to find it on YouTube, where Mel talks about how "the devil was messing with him" right when he got into Hollywood.  He then said he had the option to walk away, but he didn't, and he described himself as the type to rip up convents!  People in the audience, you could hear, were extremely uncomfortable.  The man is not well, it's obvious.
 

I think that he was married for almost 30 years with 7 children.  I wonder if his (first) wife will ever forgive him.  What about his dad?  I forgot his name.