Former Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres second baseman Marcus Giles pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor battery charge for assaulting his wife in El Cajon last fall.
Giles, 31, was placed on three years probation by Judge Patricia Cookson and ordered to take a year of domestic violence counseling.
The judge also issued a limited protective order against Giles, meaning he can have contact with his wife but cannot annoy or abuse her, said Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso.
Giles was arrested around 3:15 p.m. last Oct. 7 at Greenfield Drive and Interstate 8, after a California Highway Patrol officer found the former Padre and his 30-year-old wife, Tracey, standing outside a car stopped at the intersection.
The CHP officers called El Cajon police for assistance due to the location. The woman told officers her husband had assaulted her in the vehicle and she wanted to put him under citizen's arrest, El Cajon police Lt. Fenton Sue said.
Police took Giles to county jail and booked him on suspicion of spousal battery. His wife was not taken to a hospital, the lieutenant said.
Giles, an Alpine resident and graduate of Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, spent six seasons with the Atlanta Braves before joining his older brother, Brian, on the Padres squad in 2007.
Marcus Giles has not played in the major leagues since his release by the Padres in October of that year.
Brian Giles, 39, retired from baseball this year after signing a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He is being sued by a former girlfriend for more than $10 million. She alleges that he beat and kicked her while she was pregnant with his child, causing her to have a miscarriage. He has filed a countersuit in the case.
