Jay Mariotti Charged With Stalking, Felony Assault

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 12, 2011 2:51PM

Former Sun-Times sports columnist and ESPN shouting head Jay Mariotti was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, charges of felony charges of stalking, corporal injury on a spouse or domestic partner and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, and two misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order. If convicted of the charges, Mariotti faces up to five years in prison.

Mariotti pleaded no contest to to one count of misdemeanor domestic violence last September as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors dropped four domestic-violence-related counts, grand theft and false imprisonment charges as part of the deal, and Mariotti was sentenced to three years' probation, required to perform 40 days of community service, ordered to complete a 52-week domestic violence course and stay away from his now ex-girlfriend.

Mariotti is accused of confronting his ex-girlfriend on the day he agreed to the plea agreement. He's also charged with pulling out a chunk of her hair at a Venice, CA restaurantand grabbing her cellphone while shouting at her on April 15.

Mariotti is still a polarizing figure among Chicago media for the bridges he burned and the feuds he provoked - who can forget Roger Ebert's classic takedown of Mariotti and Jay's classy response? - while leaving town and the schadenfreude that surrounded his charges last year. We wonder is there's more of the same around Chicago's newsrooms this morning.