By Tennis Now | Tuesday, April 23, 2019
ATP board member Justin Gimelstob was found guilty of a felony assault, which was reduced to a misdemeanor, and sentenced to three years probation in a Los Angeles court on Monday.
Photo credit: Justin Gimelstob Facebook
ATP board member Justin Gimelstob was found guilty of a felony assault, which was reduced to a misdemeanor, and sentenced to three years probation in a Los Angeles court on Monday.
The 42-year-old Gimelstob, who has taken a leave of absence from his role as Tennis Channel lead analyst, faced up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for the Halloween attack on venture capitalist Randall Kaplan, whose wife, Madison, charges stress from assault caused her to have a miscarriage.
Watch: Justin Gimelstob Pleads Not Guilty
Gimelstob agreed to plead no contest to a felony battery charge, which the judge reduced to a misdemeanor. Under plea terms, Gimelstob will also serve 60 days of community service and complete 52 weeks of anger management classes.
Disturbing details of the assault were revealed during statements Kaplan and his wife, Madison, read to the court.
Madison Kaplan claims the trauma from Gimelstob's attack caused her to have a miscarriage and charged the former Grand Slam champion "did kill a tiny innocent little baby girl" according to a Telegraph report by Josh Boswell.
“Thankfully my husband survived, but our unborn child did not,” Madison Kaplan said in her statement published by The Telegraph. “My doctors said everything had looked perfect with the pregnancy before the attack. The only reason they could see causing the miscarriage was the stress from the attack. Justin might not have gotten his wish in killing Randy, but he did kill a tiny innocent little baby girl.”
In a bizarre story, Gimelstob, reportedly dressed as a pilot from the film Top Gun, allegedly snuck up behind Kaplan, who was walking with his wife and and two-year-old daughter in Los Angeles at about 6:30 on Halloween night.
Gimelstob attacked Kaplan from behind striking him 50 times and threatening to "f--king kill" him, Kaplan told police.
“During that time, I was punched at least 50 times but when you count it — 1 ... 2 … 3 ... the actual number was likely over 100,” Kaplan told the court in comments published by The Los Angeles Times. “I realized that people had finally stepped in to pull my attacker off of me, who was still saying, ‘I’m going to … kill you’ while he pointed at me with eyes of a crazed lunatic.”
Kaplan, a former friend of Gimelstob and a friend of Gimelstob's estranged wife, Cary, alleges the former UCLA all American had previously threatened him.
Kaplan claims he contacted Gimelstob's attorney to ask him to stop making threats. Kaplan, who took out a restraining order against Gimelstob, told the court he believed the former ATP pro was going to crack his skull open during the assault.
“It was beyond petrifying–I have never been so scared in my entire life,” Kaplan said in his statement. “If nobody had stopped him, and if he had continued beating my head like he wanted to, I may not be here today. I could be dead.”
While the Kaplans read their statements to the court, Gimelstob, seated less than 10 feet away, repeatedly shook his head "no" according to the Telegraph's Josh Boswell.
The judge admonished Gimelstob wondering how he could control himself outside of court if he was struggling to control himself in court, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Cary Gimelstob filed a domestic violence restraining order against estranged husband Justin in 2016, alleging he “physically assaulted, harassed, verbally attacked and stole,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
According to the domestic restraining order Cary Gimelstob filed on the weekend of December 5-7th, 2015: "Justin physically assaulted me twice in front of our son … Justin also informed me that he had placed a video recording device in my bedroom and had recordings of me having sex with another man and intended to show them to [their son] … Justin also broke into the house I was living in and threatened to continue breaking into the house I was living in in the future.”
In a detailed December Facebook post, Gimelstob disputed his estranged wife's claims, as well as other allegations of violence.
Commenting on media reports about the case, Gimelstob said in a Facebook post in February, "I have never and will never engage in any settlement discussion which would require an admission of guilt. I maintain my innocence and will only consider a no contest plea."
Prior to his sentencing in court on Monday, Gimelstob said he now "takes responsibility" for his actions and emphasized there is "no place for physical violence in society.”