King World Chief Pleads No Contest to Battery

King World Productions Chairman Roger King, charged with misdemeanor battery after an Oct. 25 attack on two patrons of Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, pleaded no contest to the charges Tuesday and paid a $1,000 fine.

King--who has twice acknowledged being treated for substance abuse--was accused of making an unprovoked attack on the two hotel guests, retailer Robert Rothstein of Woodland Hills and his father-in-law, Moses Levy of Bellevue, Wash. King allegedly attacked the men and shouted racial epithets in the hotel’s health club.

By entering a no-contest plea, King avoids having the charges used against him in a subsequent civil suit, Nevada attorneys said. Rothstein and Levy have previously said they were preparing a civil suit against King.

An attorney for Rothstein and Levy said Tuesday they still plan to pursue a civil complaint.

This is the second time that King has pleaded no contest to criminal charges. In 1987, King pleaded no contest to charges of auto theft and cocaine possession after a dispute with a cab driver who picked him up from a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., nightclub. A robbery charge was dismissed.

King heads the most successful independent television syndication company in Hollywood. King World distributes “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to local stations. Last year, King World earned profits of $90.5 million on revenue of $476 million.