Jim Lampley: ‘The thing that I am most guilty of is choosing the wrong woman’
February 26th, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & FamiliesBackground: Sports announcer Jim Lampley made national news when his girlfriend got a restraining order against him in January. He was booted out of their home, returned, and was arrested. He claimed he was innocent. Restraining orders are almost always granted by courts. Though most California DAs offices have “no drop” prosecution policies on domestic violence, Lampley was not charged with domestic violence, only with violating the restraining order. This indicates that the evidence was weak, and that perhaps Lampley’s claims of innocence were true.
All this media hysteria over a lousy restraining order violation? According to Lampley pleads no contest, receives 3 years probation (Philadelphia Daily News, 2/22/07):
“Jim Lampley was sentenced to 3 years of probation yesterday in San Diego after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of violating a restraining order.
“The 57-year-old sports announcer also was ordered to stay away from Candice Sanders, the woman who claimed he attacked her in her Encinitas, Calif., apartment on New Year’s Eve.
“Sanders, 28, is a former Miss California USA.
“In a statement released by his agent, Lampley said he did not commit a violent act.
“‘The thing that I am most guilty of is choosing [the] wrong woman,’ Lampley said.
“In addition to the stay-away order and probation, Lampley was ordered to enroll in a 52-week domestic-violence recovery program, perform 40 hours of volunteer work and pay a fine of nearly $700.
“Lampley began his career with ABC in the mid-1970s. He later worked for CBS, NBC and as a boxing commentator for HBO. He appears as himself in the movie Rocky Balboa.”
To learn more about Lampley, click here. Lampley shouldn’t be too hard on himself, though–given this, I can understand how a man could ”choose the wrong woman.”