Scammer
Banned
Mel Gibson, right, and Oksana Grigorieva split earlier this year, several months after the birth of their daughter, Lucia.
Los Angeles, California -- A family court judge refused Mel Gibson's request to prohibit the actor-director's ex-girlfriend and her lawyers from talking to reporters about their child custody battle Wednesday.
The judge also withheld a decision on Oksana Grigorieva's petition to change the temporary custody order to prevent Gibson from having overnight visits with their 1-year-old daughter.
Gibson and Grigorieva, who split up months after Lucia was born, sat on opposite sides of a courtroom Wednesday for a daylong hearing Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon.
The hearing was closed to the public and lawyers on each side would not reveal if either of the parents testified Wednesday.
They are scheduled to return to court on November 22 for a continuation of the hearing, Grigorieva lawyer Daniel Horowitz said.
While Judge Gordon refused to grant the gag order, which Grigorieva opposed, Horowitz said he was reluctant to discuss details of the hearing because it involved a child.
Still, the child custody battle has been publicly bitter and could evolve into a criminal case. Prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges against Gibson in connection with a domestic violence investigation related to the custody dispute, a Los Angeles district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
A decision on charges against Gibson will not be made until sheriff's investigators conclude a probe of extortion allegations Gibson made Grigorieva, Gibbons said.
Police in Malibu Hills, California, opened the investigation in July into an alleged domestic violence incident in which Grigorieva accused Gibson of striking her in the face. He alleged that she attempted to extort him to keep controversial recordings of their arguments secret.
Phone calls recorded by Grigorieva are "part of the investigation" into the alleged domestic violence," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. Several explosive audio recordings, purportedly between Grigorieva and Gibson, were released online.