National Basketball Association

Report: Mariotti pleads not guilty

Published May. 11, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Jay Mariotti, a former ESPN and newspaper personality, pleaded not guilty Wednesday on three felony charges stemming from an alleged confrontation with a former girlfriend last month, according to a report.

Mariotti was charged with “stalking, corporal injury on a spouse or domestic partner, and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition, Mariotti was charged with two misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order, the newspaper reported.

According to prosecutors, Mariotti confronted his former girlfriend outside a Venice, Calif., restaurant on Sept. 30, the same day he received a court order to keep his distance from her. He had pleaded no contest that day to one count of misdemeanor domestic violence. He also allegedly argued with the woman outside a Venice, Calif., restaurant on April 15, prosecutors said, and is alleged to have pulled out some of her hair, grabbed her cellphone and shouted at her.

Mariotti, who worked for ESPN after gaining fame writing sports columns for newspapers in Chicago, Denver and Cincinnati, is scheduled to appear before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz on June 1, according to the newspaper report. Mariotti faces up to five years in state prison if convicted.

In the deal reached in the original case with the Los Angeles city attorney's office, six misdemeanor counts against Mariotti — four domestic-violence-related counts, grand theft and false imprisonment — were dismissed, the Times reported.

At that time, Mariotti did not receive jail time. Instead, he was placed on three years of probation, was required to perform 40 days of community service and to complete a 52-week domestic violence course, and was ordered to keep his distance from the victim, according to the newspaper. Mariotti could face county jail time in connection with the charge of violating probation.