Redmond O’Neal, the only son of Hollywood icons Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom this week with a markedly changed appearance.
The 41-year-old, who has faced years of legal and personal turmoil, was seen with his red hair grown out from its previously buzzed style, seemingly obscuring the devil horn tattoos on his forehead that Our News Outlet first revealed earlier this year.
But the longer hair drew attention to another detail that appeared even more unsettling.
Images captured by Our News Outlet appeared to show two lightning-bolt-style “SS” tattoos on the left side of O’Neal’s neck.
It remains unclear when O’Neal got the tattoo. If the marking is indeed the “SS” symbol, it carries a notorious history as the insignia of Nazi Germany’s black-uniformed paramilitary force and has more recently been embraced by white supremacist groups as a hate symbol.
O’Neal has been held in custody since his arrest in May 2018, after authorities accused him of carrying out an alleged week-long crime spree across Los Angeles. The allegations include attacking two actors, threatening a café employee with a knife and attempting to rob a convenience store.
The criminal case has moved slowly, largely because of prolonged questions surrounding O’Neal’s mental competency.
He was previously ruled incompetent to stand trial and spent years in state psychiatric hospitals before later being found competent to continue with the proceedings.
Dana Cole, one of O’Neal’s defense attorneys, did not deny his client has the tattoo, but insisted the lightning ink is not new.
‘In my discussions with Redmond, I have never detected any racist supremacist attitudes,’ Cole told Our News Outlet.
‘I think he’s a very changed man and he got those tattoos many years ago when he was suffering from serious mental illness. It is unfortunate that while in prison, there is no process to get rid of offensive tattoos, which I’m sure he wants to do.’
Redmond O’Neal was sporting a new look when he appeared before an LA judge on August 13 for his arraignment
O’Neal, 41, is facing multiple felony charges in connection to a week-long crime spree in the Santa Monica and Venice Beach areas of LA
New photos show O’Neal has what appears to be an ‘SS’ lightning bolt tattoo, which is known to be used by white supremacist groups as a hate symbol
Cole added: ‘He has been nothing but respectful to me and in the discussions that we’ve had. While I don’t know for a fact, from what I understand, inmates are forced to align to certain hate groups for self-preservation.’
In total, O’Neal is facing 13 charges, including felony attempted murder with a special allegation that he premeditated and deliberately tried to kill actor Seth Folkerson.
O’Neal also was charged with battery, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance and second-degree robbery. Kenneth Fox, one of the alleged assault victims, testified that O’Neal struck him in the face with a glass bottle while hurling homophobic slurs.
O’Neal faces a potential life sentence if convicted of the charges. He has denied all of the charges.
During the preliminary hearing in June, LA County Superior Court Commissioner James P. Cooper ruled prosecutors proved there was enough probable cause to hold O’Neal to the 13 charges.
On Thursday, O’Neal was back in court in front of a different judge for his arraignment, but his defense attorneys asked to push back the hearing to October.
When the LA County Superior Court Judge William L. Sadler asked O’Neal if he agreed to continue his arraignment, he quietly replied, ‘Yes, sir, your Honor.’
The judge ordered a no bail hold for O’Neal, who will remain at Patton State Hospital, a forensic psychiatric hospital in San Bernardino, California, where he will continue his mental health treatments as he awaits trial.
Before he was ushered out of the courtroom by the bailiff, O’Neal looked back into the audience and smiled at his godmother, Mela Murphy, who smiled back at him.
After Thursday’s hearing, Cole told Our News Outlet they asked to continue the arraignment because they plan to file a motion to dismiss some of the charges, including the second-degree robbery charge involving a 7-Eleven clerk and an assault with a deadly weapon charge involving a female cafè employee named Samantha Cline.
Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal were in a long-term, on-again-off-again relationship from 1979 to 1997. They are pictured with Redmond in 1995
Samantha Cline, who testified in court during the preliminary hearing in June, sat near O’Neal as footage showed the 41-year-old allegedly punch a display case
‘The reason why we wanted to continue the arraignment is to file a motion regarding the list of charges to see if some can be dismissed due to the time he’s already spent in custody,’ Cole said.
Cline testified during a preliminary hearing in June that O’Neal walked into a cafè in Venice, California where she was working.
The former barista said she remembered that O’Neal allegedly threatened her and her coworker and 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.
During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors played surveillance footage from the cafè as Cline recounted the alleged attack.
‘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.”
Cole said they also plan to challenge the assault with a deadly weapon charge in connection to Fox’s allegations against O’Neal.
During the preliminary hearing, an emotional Fox testified O’Neal allegedly hurled homophobic slurs at him as he repeatedly kicked and then beat him over the head with a glass bottle.
However, police who responded to the call testified that their reports did not indicate that Fox told them about the homophobic slurs.
O’Neal, pictured here in June with his attorney Dana Cole, watched a 2018 video footage of him allegedly attacking patrons and workers in a Venice coffee shop in court
Kenneth Fox (left) with his attorney Gloria Allred during a September 2018 press conference where the actor announced he filed a civil lawsuit against Redmond O’Neal
Ryan O’Neal (left) and Redmond attend court on drugs charges in 2008
In his closing argument, Cole alleged Fox lied on the stand and said the body cam footage from police did not match the actor’s testimony.
‘When the police officers asked on two or three occasions what happened, [Fox] said, ‘I was punched in the nose.’ And that is all he says,’ Cole told the commissioner. ‘If you reach the transcript, you will see they’re having nothing but a very polite, very sensitive, very sympathetic conversation with Mr. Fox. So, frankly, 94 percent of what [Fox] said is a lie.’
Fox sued O’Neal in September 2018 but settled the case for an undisclosed amount, according to court records. The Daily Mail has reached out to Fox and his attorneys for comment.
Another actor, Seth Folkerson, also testified O’Neal allegedly attacked him as he was walking to his car parked on 4th Street in Venice Beach on May 4, 2018.
Folkerson said his throat was slit along the carotid artery, and he was stabbed on his left temple and in his right pectoral muscle. He said the stab wounds were deep enough that his lung and liver were ruptured in the attack.
Folkerson testified he was in the hospital for about four and a half months and continues to suffer from health issues because of the attack. He also testified that he does not remember a lot about the day of his alleged attack because of the head wounds he suffered when O’Neal allegedly stabbed him five times.
Murphy, who has been O’Neal’s constant support, has told Our News Outlet that her godson ‘found God’ during his incarceration and his mental health has improved since he has received treatment at Patton State Hospital.
Mental health records obtained by Our News Outlet show O’Neal was diagnosed in 2017 with schizophrenia, alcohol abuse, as well as meth and cocaine abuse.
His mother, Charlie’s Angel actress Farrah Faecett, died on June 29, 2009, at 62 after battling anal cancer when O’Neal was 24.
His father, Academy Award nominee Ryan O’Neal, died on December 8, 2023, at 82 from congestive heart failure.
In a 2018 jail interview with Radar Online shortly after he was arrested, O’Neal blamed his father for his downward spiral.
‘It’s not the drugs that have been a problem, it’s the psychological trauma of my entire life – my whole life experiences have affected me the most,’ he said at the time, alleging his father had kicked him out and he had been living on the streets.’
