Former FOX6 News reporter reaches plea deal after incident at Miller Park
MILWAUKEE -- A former FOX6 News reporter facing criminal charges after an incident at Miller Park has reached a plea deal. A.J. Bayatpour will avoid a felony record under the agreement.
Bayatpour is accused of substantial battery — and entered a plea of guilty in Milwaukee County court on Thursday, Aug. 9. However, the judge withheld a conviction. If Bayatpour upholds the terms of the deal, prosecutors will amend the charge.
According to the criminal complaint, Bayatpour was involved in an argument at Miller Park on April 6. He is accused of hitting a reporter with another Milwaukee television station. That reporter was injured.
Bayatpour was attending the Milwaukee Brewers versus Chicago Cubs game at the time of the incident.
Bayatpour no longer works for FOX6 News. Julius Kim, Bayatpour's lawyer, released the following statement to FOX6 News:
"Yesterday, Mr. Bayatpour entered into a six month deferred prosecution agreement with the approval of the court. This agreement requires Mr. Bayatpour to meet certain conditions such as paying restitution, performing 25 hours of community service, and attending any counseling that is deemed appropriate. Assuming these conditions are met, Mr. Bayatpour will be convicted of Disorderly Conduct, not Battery, which is what we feel more accurately reflects what occurred in this incident following our own independent investigation.
We were prepared to go to trial in this case because we believed the evidence would show that Mr. Bayatpour was not the initial aggressor in this incident and that Mr. Bayatpour felt threatened at the time the incident occurred; however, recognizing that trials are risky and that it was in the best interest of all the parties to avoid trial if possible, the prosecutor and I worked hard to reach a settlement of the case that we felt was both fair and allowed the parties involved to begin moving on with their lives.
I think poor decisions were made by all of the parties involved here, and there are no winners in a situation like this. This was an unfortunate and stupid incident that occurred between young professionals who frankly, knew better. I hope Mr. Jordan recovers from the injuries he sustained and that everyone will grow and move on from this incident."