Former ESPN Personality Charged With 3 Felony Counts Jay Mariotti. Jay Mariotti, the once-on-the-rise and now former ESPN Personality, who first gained fame as a biting sports columnist for the Chicago Sun Times and then on AOL Fanhouse, is in hot water again, and just less than a year after his headline making arrest on suspicion of domestic abuse.
It was after an altercation with a woman described then as his girlfriend that started with an argument at a club in Santa Monica, California and then ended with Jay's reportedly violent confrontation at her Venice Beach apartment.
Eventually, Jay Mariotti was charged with seven misdemeanor counts, but the four domestic-violence-related counts and charges of grand theft and false imprisonment were dismissed.
This time, Jay reportedly had some kind of confrontation or encounter with the same woman, and on the same day he was told by the LA court to stay away from her. He was charged with three felony counts on Wednesday.
According to the LA Times, His lawyer Shawn Holley said "These allegations are complete fabrications, made by an accuser who, since October of last year, has doggedly tried to have Mr. Marriotti arrested and charged on numerous past occasions without success."
If you recognize the name, Shawn Holley, she's the same attorney who regularly represents Lindsay Lohan. One thing's for sure, he's got a good chance of getting past this episode with Ms. Holley's help.
But.
What the hell's wrong with Jay Mariotti that he can't take his focus off this ex-girlfriend and on to restarting his career and getting back on ESPN? If the court told him to stay away from her, there are billions of other women on the planet, why not just find them?
If she's "tried to have Mr. Marriotti arrested and charged on numerous past occasions" that should be enough for him to first, stay away from her, and second, carry a camcorder to record those times when she approaches him first, and third, file a restraining order of his own.
That's what he should have done.