Lampley Enters No-Contest Plea In Restraining Order Case

VISTA, Calif. -- Sports announcer Jim Lampley pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of violating a restraining order and was sentenced to three years probation.

Judge Laura Parsky ordered the 57-year-old Lampley to stay away from Candice Sanders, who claimed Lampley pushed her against two walls and a door of her Encinitas apartment on New Year's Eve.

The 2003 Miss California USA asked for and was granted a temporary restraining order on Jan. 2, barring the HBO boxing announcer from coming within 100 yards of her, her apartment or her place of employment.

The next day sheriff's deputies arrested Lampley at the woman's residence on Garden View Road.

A hearing on whether to extend the TRO was delayed several times and was eventually canceled today, since Parsky's "stay away" order accomplishes the same thing.

The judge also ordered Lampley to enroll in a 52-week domestic violence recovery program, perform 40 hours of volunteer work and pay a fine of nearly $700, Deputy District Attorney Per Hellstrom said.

"He got the same sentence as anyone else in that situation," Hellstrom said.

Lampley's attorney, Thomas Warwick, was not available for comment.

Lampley issued a statement saying, "I'm grateful to the prosecutor and the district attorney, who understood that, as I have maintained from the beginning, I did not commit a violent act."

Lampley's statement also thanked his family, friends, HBO and the National Broadcasting Co. "who stood with me during my time of uncertainty."

HBO officials referred calls for comment to Lampley's publicist.

In a written declaration for the TRO, Sanders claimed that Lampley was drunk and high on marijuana when the incident occurred. He pushed her to the floor of a New York City restaurant two months earlier and agreed to undergo counseling, she wrote.

Sanders told an interviewer on the television program "Inside Edition" that she made a bad choice in dating Lampley. The program aired Monday.

Lampley was not required to answer the criminal charge until March 13, but lawyers in misdemeanor cases will frequently find a more convenient date or handle matters by fax. Most high-profile defendants choose to stay away from hearings on misdemeanors, but Lampley showed up to enter the plea.

Lampley began his broadcasting career in 1974 as a sideline reporter on ABC's college football telecasts. He later worked as a news anchor and sportscaster in Los Angeles, and has co-hosted Olympics coverage. He was once married to former San Diego and Los Angeles news anchor Bree Walker.