From
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/br ... 2481.storyQuote:
Mariotti pleads no contest to stalking, assault-related charges
Los Angeles Times
3:59 p.m. CDT, September 13, 2011
Former Chicago Sun-Times columnist and ESPN sports personality Jay Mariotti pleaded no contest Tuesday to stalking and assault-related charges in exchange for community service and probation, authorities said.
Mariotti, who faced up to five years in state prison if he had gone to trial and been convicted on all counts, will not spend any time behind bars. Under the plea before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Dabney, all five counts -- including three felonies -- faced by Mariotti will be reduced to misdemeanors, officials said.
At a preliminary hearing in July, Mariotti was held to answer on charges that included felony stalking, corporal injury on a spouse or domestic partner, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, and two misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order.
Shawn Holley, the attorney representing Mariotti, said that despite the no-contest plea, her client maintained his innocence and that the decision to accept the court's offer was not an acknowledgement of guilt but rather a "practical consideration in light of the expense and unpredictability of trial."
"Although Mr. Mariotti would have liked to have told his side of the story at trial, the fact that he is an accomplished writer provided him another avenue, in this case a book, to tell his side in an unconventional but progressive manner."
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