Former Giants pitcher settles battery against the elderly charge

MIAMI (AP) Montreal Expos pitcher Livan Hernandez settled charges Tuesday that he swung golf clubs at an elderly warehouse owner earlier this year.

Under the agreement, prosecutors will drop felony aggravated assault and battery on the elderly charges if Hernandez attends anger management classes, performs 50 hours of community service and donates $500 to charity.

Hernandez, who was traded to the Expos from the San Francisco Giants on March 24, can wait until the offseason to meet the terms, and will be allowed to travel freely with the team.

``We are not admitting anything,'' said Hernandez's attorney, Manuel Vasquez. ``We probably would have won the case, but we didn't want to take the risk of going before a jury.''

Hernandez was in Atlanta with the Expos on Tuesday and did not attend the hearing.

Hernandez, who was the 1997 World Series MVP with the Florida Marlins, faced up to five years in prison on each charge. He has disputed the allegations, saying it was the warehouse owner, Francisco Martinez, 65, who threw punches, and that he never struck back or tried to hit him with the golf clubs.

Martinez has sued Hernandez, but no trial date has been set.

In 1998, Hernandez was charged with simple battery when his former girlfriend filed a complaint alleging the pitcher beat her and yanked a necklace off her neck during a fight. The charge was dropped after he completed a pretrial intervention program and an anger management course.

Hernandez signed with Florida in 1996 after defecting from his native Cuba and was a 22-year-old rookie in 1997 when he won both of his starts against the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. He started and lost Game 7 of last year's World Series for the Giants against the Anaheim Angels.

Over his nine-year career, he has a 69-69 record and a 4.42 ERA.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)