Ryan O'Neal: My Son Never Recovered from Mom Farrah Fawcett's Death

Redmond O'Neal pleads not guilty to the latest drug charges that could send him back to prison

Photo: SMPD/Splash News Online

For Ryan O’Neal, it was a sadly familiar scene: his son Redmond standing before a judge expressing exasperation over Redmond’s latest drug-related troubles with the law.

Only this time, it was different. The long-troubled 26-year-old Redmond faces not only a much more severe penalty, including a long prison term, but a new psychological burden.

“He never recovered from the loss of his mother,” Ryan told PEOPLE Thursday outside the Los Angeles Superior Court after Redmond pleaded not guilty to two charges, felony possession of heroin and being a felon in possession of a handgun.

Redmond, whose mother Farrah Fawcett died in 2009, was arrested Tuesday when police allegedly found heroin and marijuana in his car following a traffic stop in Santa Monica.

After police executed a search warrant at his apartment, they allegedly found a loaded handgun.

“He’s an addict,” added Redmond’s half-sister Tatum O’Neal, who also attended the court session. “Addicts keep using until they want to stop. We’re praying for him every day.”

Judge Keith Schwartz told O’Neal he needed “tough love” and ordered him held without bail until an Aug. 24 hearing.

“This is an ongoing pattern you have and it hasn’t been addressed for whatever reason,” added the judge, who didn’t say whether Redmond will get prison time or more drug treatment in this case, although he thinks he would get better drug treatment if he does not go to prison.

A lawyer for O’Neal pleaded for leniency in the case. “All of this is because of narcotics,” defense attorney Richard Pintal told the judge. “What he have here is a relapse … It’s the nature of the disease.”