LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Former Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners outfielder Milton Bradley has been charged with abusing his estranged wife and faces up to 13 years in jail if convicted, city prosecutors announced Friday.
Bradley, 34, was charged on Thursday with 13 misdemeanour counts of assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and dissuading a witness from making a report.
In addition to jail time, Bradley could face up to $13,000 in fines and restitution if convicted.
He remained free pending a scheduled Jan. 24 arraignment.
Prosecutors contend that Bradley threatened and attacked his wife five times in 2011 and 2012. He was twice arrested at the home in 2011.
"During one incident in November 2012, Bradley allegedly pushed his wife against a kitchen wall and choked her with both hands after she requested that he stop smoking marijuana in front of their children and requested that his friends leave her San Fernando Valley home," said a statement from the city attorney's office.
Prosecutors contend that during other confrontations, Bradley kicked his wife in the ribs, approached her with a baseball bat and threatened her with a knife while telling her: "You'll be dead b---- before you divorce me."
"My client denies it," said Bradley's attorney, Harland Braun. "I've talked to him already. He said 'she's making up stories. I don't know what she's talking about.'"
The couple, who have two children, are separated and in the middle of a contentious divorce.
Bradley played 11 years with the Montreal Expos, Cleveland Indians, Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners.
His playing history was marred by several confrontational outbursts. The Dodgers traded him to Oakland in 2005 after he threw a water bottle at fans and he had a clubhouse run-in with a reporter. During his brief term with Seattle, he was suspended for a game for bumping an umpire and ejected for arguing a called third strike.
He's been a free agent since the Mariners released him in 2011.
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