New Video Shows Farrah Fawcett’s Son in Disturbing Outburst

Nearly ten years after Redmond O’Neal was accused of a week-long crime spree that rattled Los Angeles, the long-delayed case is moving forward again.

O’Neal, the only son of Hollywood icons Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett, was arrested in 2018 after authorities alleged he carried out a string of apparently random attacks across the city. The accusations included the stabbings of two actors, assaults, threats and the robbery of a convenience store.

His latest court appearance came Thursday, on the 17th anniversary of his famous mother’s death from anal cancer at age 62. O’Neal appeared in a white shirt, balding and visibly heavier, with the devil horn tattoos previously revealed by the Daily Mail visible during the proceedings.

After years of questions over his mental competency following his 2018 arrest, O’Neal has now been deemed fit to stand trial. In court, he watched newly presented video evidence showing a tense encounter with one of his alleged victims.

At the close of Thursday’s preliminary hearing, LA County Superior Court Commissioner James P. Cooper III ruled that prosecutors had presented enough evidence for O’Neal to be held on 13 felony and misdemeanor charges and allegations.

O’Neal was ordered back to the state hospital and is expected to return for a bail hearing in July.

One piece of evidence shown in court was surveillance footage from May 7, 2018, which showed O’Neal entering a cafe in Venice, California, before approaching Samantha Cline and her coworker behind the counter.

Cline said it was shortly after 10 a.m. when O’Neal came into the cafe and asked the two employees for a sample of coffee.

Moments later, she said, the situation escalated into a terrifying confrontation.

The courtroom was stunned into silence as footage showed the 41-year-old suddenly threatening the cafe employees. The former barista said she remembered that O’Neal yelled, ‘Stop staring at me’ before punching the shop’s espresso machine.   

Brandishing a knife, O’Neal then went behind the counter to where Cline was standing. He then aggressively slapped a pile of coffee cup covers and straws off the countertop.

‘I was wary of him when he came in,’ Cline testified. ‘He seemed like he was looking at our tip jar. I don’t think he had a menacing glare, but I was watching him.’ 

‘He pulled a knife out of his pocket and came toward me with a knife in his hand,’ Cline recalled. ‘I thought to myself, “I don’t want to die in this moment.”‘

O’Neal, dressed in a white shirt and dark slacks, sat quietly as surveillance footage of the alleged attack was played in court during Thursday’s preliminary hearing.

O’Neal’s alleged criminal spree has earned him multiple charges, including one count of felony attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree robbery. 

Prosecutors have alleged O’Neal, 41, stabbed actor Seth Folkerson in the head and other parts of his body at least five times, causing traumatic brain injury.

He is also alleged to have attacked another actor, Kenneth Fox, who previously testified that O’Neal struck him in the face with a glass bottle while hurling homophobic slurs.

Defense attorneys have repeatedly called into question Fox’s testimony, which they said has changed since the actor initially spoke to investigators.

O’Neal is also alleged to have robbed a 7-Eleven convenience store at knifepoint and threatened Cline and her coworkers at the Venice cafe where they worked. 

If convicted on the attempted murder charge, he faces life in prison.

Cline testified on Thursday that the knife O’Neal had in his right hand ‘didn’t seem like a huge knife. The blade was a couple of inches long.’

Cline said at some point, O’Neal dropped the weapon. In the video, he is seen walking out of the cafe after other customers walked in.

When asked if O’Neal stole anything, Cline replied: ‘I don’t know. It was so disheartening, I didn’t think to count the money afterward.’

O’Neal’s case had dragged on for the past eight years after he was found incompetent to stand trial. His criminal case was paused in 2019 after a judge ruled that he could not assist in his own defense.

O’Neal has been transferred to various state prisons in California, but has been incarcerated at Patton State Hospital, a psychiatric facility in San Bernardino, for the past three and a half years.

Family and friends told Daily Mail that O’Neal suffered years of abuse. Two sources told the Daily Mail that Ryan O’Neal would pull Redmond out of rehab programs early and allowed drug use in the house. 

Last year, a judge ruled O’Neal was finally competent to stand trial and ordered him to face his criminal charges in court.

Prosecutors alleged he committed the attempted murder charge and one of the assault with a deadly weapon counts with a special allegation that the crimes were ‘willful, deliberate and premeditated,’ according to the criminal complaint obtained by the Daily Mail.

He also faces other charges, including battery, making criminal threats, brandishing a knife, and possession of heroin and methamphetamine.

Prosecutors named at least six alleged victims in an amended criminal complaint presented to the court a few months ago.

Defense attorney Dana Cole told the commissioner on Thursday that he planned to call a forensic psychiatrist, who had been observing O’Neal for years, to testify at the preliminary hearing. 

Cole said the psychiatrist would testify to his client’s mental state. O’Neal is currently under a conservatorship.

Mela Murphy, Fawcett’s former hairdresser and a close friend of the actress for decades, is O’Neal’s court-appointed conservator. 

However, Commissioner Cooper denied Cole’s request to continue the hearing.

‘There is no one in the world, except for Mr. O’Neal, that could provide direct evidence about a person’s mental state,’ Cooper said. ‘All they can do is talk about the behavior.

He continued: ‘The objective behavior is circumstantial evidence of an intent to kill or an intent to threaten, or threaten to deprive someone of property. If your expert wants to testify, her testimony would only be circumstantial evidence because she didn’t observe any of the alleged behavior. Also, she would be opining on second-hand information that is now eight years old.’

Murphy previously told the Daily Mail her godson has been ‘doing better’ at Patton State Hospital, and she still hopes the case could be settled, allowing him to be released under strict supervision with time served.

She said O’Neal gained weight because of his medication, which has helped him significantly. 

On Thursday, a frustrated Murphy walked out of the courtroom after the commissioner found there was enough evidence for her godson to face the charges.

‘He was getting the facts wrong and negating what he heard in court,’ Murphy said of the commissioner. ‘Redmond been in Patton [State Hospital] and I want him to stay there because he is getting the proper treatment.’

During one of their recent phone conversations, Murphy said her godson could not recall the incidents that were described by witnesses during the preliminary hearing.

‘He said, “I don’t remember saying any of that, but I don’t remember anything. What should I do,”‘ Murphy told the Daily Mail after Thursday’s hearing. ‘I hope that he continues on the same road, abiding by all the rules where he is now.’

After the hearing, Cole spoke to O’Neal before he was transported back to the state hospital in San Bernardino.

‘He is doing very well,’ Cole said of his client. ‘He was very appreciative, respectful and thankful. He’s been at Patton Hospital now for years, so he is used to his environment there, at least for the time being. 

‘Our hope is at some point, people will see that the time that he has spent on this alleged crime spree has now been served, so he can focus on his mental health as opposed to his incarceration.’