Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped charges against Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd’s estranged wife, Alice Evans, who had been charged with defying a restraining order the Welsh actor had against her.
Evans, 54, pleaded not guilty to two counts of violating an order that prohibits him from posting derogatory comments about Gruffudd, 49, or his girlfriend Bianca Wallace, 29, on social media.
But at a hearing Thursday at the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse, Commissioner James Cooper dismissed the charges after prosecutors told the court they “could not proceed.”
Alice Evans is seen for the first time since restraining order violation charges were dropped in Los Angeles
Evans was photographed with her daughter, Ella, leaving a Trader Joe’s supermarket.
At a hearing on Friday, where Evans did not appear in person, her attorney, public defender Daniel Stefanic, filed a motion seeking a judgment finding her “factually innocent.”
Outside court on Friday, Stefanic told DailyMail.com that even though the charges against Evans have been dismissed, “she wants to be found not guilty as charged.”
The 102 Dalmatians star looked downcast as she loaded groceries into the family’s car.
At a follow-up hearing on Friday, where Evans did not appear in person, her attorney, public defender Daniel Stefanic, filed a motion seeking a judgment finding her “not guilty in fact” of the charges.
Commissioner Cooper at first denied the motion, telling the court that ‘a finding of factual innocence opens the county (Los Angeles County) to civil liability.
“The county doesn’t want us to rule on matters like this by the seat of our pants.”
But at Stefanic’s urging, Commissioner Cooper withdrew his denial of the motion and deferred his decision until another hearing that he scheduled for April 25.
Outside court on Friday, Stefanic told DailyMail.com that even though the charges against Evans have been dismissed, “she wants to be found not guilty as charged.”
Alice Evans (pictured leaving court in January), 54, pleaded not guilty to two counts of violating the retraining order her ex-husband Ioan Gruffudd had against her. At a hearing Thursday, the charges were dismissed after prosecutors told the court they “could not proceed.”
“I can’t leave the house without being photographed and told I’m fat and hideous while ‘B’ is so skinny,” Evans wrote of Wallace.
Gruffudd filed for joint custody of their two daughters last July after Alice filed for sole custody amid their acrimonious divorce.
Saying the restraining order charges have caused Evans’ name to be “dragged through the mud,” he added: “This was a violation of his civil rights.”
The Los Angeles assistant district attorney prosecuting the case declined to comment.
The criminal restraining order case had caused the ex-couple’s acrimonious divorce and custody battles for their two daughters, Ella, 13, and Elsie, 9, to be put on hold, much to Gruffudd’s chagrin.
The warring exes were scheduled to appear last month at a custody court hearing in which Gruffudd hoped he would be granted more time with his daughters than the one day a week he now has.
But Evans asked the Family Court judge in the divorce case to postpone that hearing until after her restraining order trial.
Evans had been accused of defying a restraining order that Welsh actor Gruffudd had against her.
Her attorney, Marie LaMolinara, argued that the testimony Alice gives at the custody hearing could be used against her in her criminal trial if it takes place later, violating her rights, under the Fifth Amendment, not to incriminate herself. .
Family Court Judge Josh Freeman Stinn, who is presiding over the couple’s messy divorce, agreed and postponed the custody hearing until July 13, despite vehement opposition from Gruffudd, who accused Alice of “harming their relationship” with their daughters.
But now that there is no longer a criminal case against Evans, Gruffudd could go back to Judge Stinn to ask that the July 13 custody hearing be held earlier.
Gruffudd was married to Evans for 14 years before their messy separation
Gruffudd and Evans met while filming the movie 102 Dalmatians in 1999.
Alice risked violating her restraining order by using social media to post about their split.
Gruffudd filed for divorce in March last year after Evans claimed on social media that her husband of 14 years was abandoning her and their two daughters.
Evans continued to criticize him until he sought the restraining order preventing her from sharing his private messages or attacking him and Wallace online.
Gruffudd filed for joint custody of their two daughters last July after Evans filed for sole custody amid their bitter divorce.
In addition to requesting visitation rights, he claimed in the filing that Evans had been deliberately trying to cut off communication between him and his children.
He also requested that the girls attend in-person therapy and reunification therapy via Zoom with him pending court-ordered custody mediation.
In court documents, Gruffudd accused Evans of verbally abusing him during their marriage and “undermining” him in front of the girls throughout their lives.
“Alice often made fun of my appearance, making comments about my hair loss and telling me I had ‘droopy eyes in my vagina,'” the court documents read.
He went on to state that Evans “has inflicted serious emotional damage on Ella and Elsie by his statements and by interfering with my relationship with them.”
Gruffudd claimed in his filing that Evans had been interfering with communication between him and his children. Gruffudd accused Evans of verbally abusing him during his marriage and of ‘undermining’ him in front of the girls throughout his life.
In a video before the former couple’s January 2021 split, which Gruffudd submitted as evidence at the filing, Evans allegedly told Ella that she would “get a new daddy.”
“In a FaceTime I had with the girls on March 3, Ella said that Alice falsely told her that I wanted Alice to kill herself and that Ella probably wouldn’t have a mom anymore,” Gruffudd wrote in the petition.
‘She told me, ‘Dad, this is making me so sad’ and ‘if I don’t agree with her, apparently I’m a bad daughter.’
Evans risked violating her restraining order by taking to social media to post about their split.
On Instagram, he wrote: “I’m working out to try and calm down because I’m being GASLIT.” Damn GASLIT.
‘With my children, with the places I usually go. All. I can’t leave the house without being photographed and told that I’m fat and hideous while “B” is so skinny…
She signed: ‘…I can’t deal for much longer.’