99.9% of the world has convicted Mel over these charges, yet still no video no audio.

[b]"The district attorney in his statement clearly verifies that all of the evidence - including inappropriate remarks, hateful remarks, anti-Semitic remarks, including with the videotape along with the audiotape," is there, Baca said.[/b]

prove it!! SHOW ME THE VIDEO!!

[url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15191600.htm]Mel Gibson's most important movie may not be released[/url]

LINDA DEUTSCH

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - The movie that could be the most important of Mel Gibson's career is one that may never be released if the actor and law enforcement authorities prevail.

But at least one media outlet is seeking access immediately to the potentially explosive video and audio of Gibson's drunken driving arrest.

The visual and audio record could add fuel to the controversy over Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade at a deputy who pulled him over and his self-described belligerent behavior toward deputies when he was brought to a sheriff's station in the early morning hours of July 28.

TMZ, an Internet celebrity news site which first released leaked sections of Gibson's booking report, maintains the tapes should be seen and heard by the public to assess whether the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department gave Gibson preferential treatment.

"We want the tapes not just because of Mel Gibson but because the tape puts the conduct of the Sheriff's Department in context," said Harvey Levin, head of TMZ. He said he had learned that the deputy who arrested Gibson radioed ahead to the station that someone should be prepared to videotape the scene because of Gibson's behavior.

"From what I understand, the deputies were very excited because Mr. Gibson was there," Levin said Thursday. "The tape may show them gathering around to peer at him."

Los Angeles' leading First Amendment lawyers said it will be an uphill battle to obtain the tapes before the case is resolved.

Attorney Douglas Mirell predicted authorities would invoke the investigative records exemption to the California Public Records Act, which is the single most litigated exemption.

"As a practical matter, if he pleads and nothing further happens, there's no reason why the investigative exemption would continue to apply," said Mirell. "You can't continue to investigate something when it's been disposed of."

However, he said court rulings on the issue place no time limit on such an exemption.

The TMZ lawyer, Alonzo Wickers IV, said in his letter to the Sheriff's Department that a key issue is evaluating the department's actions.

"Only by full disclosure can the public evaluate whether Mr. Gibson indeed received preferential treatment," said the letter. "Although the Sheriff's Department has maintained that deputies did not show Mr. Gibson favoritism, the department's prompt release of the requested materials will speak louder than any statement the department's spokesperson can make."

Wickers cited the Public Records Act and the First Amendment as supporting full public access. But authorities indicated they would resist.

"We can't release them," said Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. "They are part of the evidence now. Once everything is done and the case is wrapped up we certainly can revisit it."

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, took the same position. She said the tapes would not become a public record until they were introduced in evidence at a trial.

"We retain them as part of the investigative file," Robison said. "We do not release them unless they become part of the public record."

However, legal experts agree that it is unlikely that Gibson will ask for a trial.

"One reason for the exemption is that if they released the tapes it might taint the jury pool," said Theodore Boutrous Jr. "But there is not that danger if there is no trial."

He noted that the case is also unique because Gibson has "confessed on the record not only to the charges but to making statements that have nothing to do with the charges."

Boutrous also noted that Sheriff Lee Baca has discussed the contents of the tapes publicly, which may provide a legal argument for their release.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Baca said he believed all evidence had been evaluated in prosecutors' decision to charge Gibson with two misdemeanors and an infraction.'

"The district attorney in his statement clearly verifies that all of the evidence - including inappropriate remarks, hateful remarks, anti-Semitic remarks, including with the videotape along with the audiotape," is there, Baca said.

Gibson's lawyer, Blair Berk, declined to comment on the matter.