Actor’s Son Sentenced in Drunk-Driving Case

A Van Nuys Municipal Court judge on Friday ordered actor Griffin Patrick O’Neal, son of actor Ryan O’Neal, to perform 160 hours of community service, pay about $800 in fines and attend a 90-day alcohol education program for drunk driving.

Judge Lloyd Nash also restricted O’Neal’s driving privilege and placed him on 36 months of unsupervised probation. O’Neal, 24, did not appear in court for his sentencing. His attorney, Floyd Siegal, appeared on his behalf.

O’Neal, of Studio City, was arrested in October after he failed a sobriety test given by officers who stopped him for erratic driving near Roscoe Boulevard and Woodman Avenue.

He pleaded no contest in May to charges of drunk driving and driving with a suspended license. A no contest plea is the equivalent of a guilty plea under criminal law.

For the next three months, O’Neal may drive only between his home, work and the alcohol education program, the judge said Friday. And at least half of his community service must be spent on a graffiti-removal crew supervised by Los Angeles police each Saturday.

Deputy City Atty. Laura Van Eyk said O’Neal must complete his community service by February or he could face up to a year in jail.

In 1987, O’Neal was sentenced to 400 hours of community service for his part in the boating death of Gian-Carlo Coppola, son of film director Francis Ford Coppola, on Memorial Day, 1986, in Maryland. O’Neal served 15 days in jail for not performing the community service ordered by the judge who found him guilty of reckless boating.