Montreal Expos author Jonah Keri pleads guilty to domestic assault charges

As part of the guilty plea, Keri admitted to numerous instances of violence against his ex-wife, all detailed in an agreed statement of facts read in court.

They included hitting and biting his wife in the face, grabbing a kitchen knife and threatening to remove their unborn baby from her body and telling her he would throw her off a balcony.

Keri also admitted to telling his wife he would kill her brother and father if she ever told them about the violence. On two occasions, he threatened to crash the car they were driving in.

The Crown and defence are waiting for a pre-sentence report to be completed before beginning sentencing arguments. The case is scheduled to be back in court in late November.

In court, Keri’s lawyer, Jeffrey Boro, described him as a successful and “well-known person in the city of Montreal” who lost his sportswriting career after being arrested.

Boro said Keri was battling mental health issues at the time of the assaults and spent three weeks in a psychiatric ward following his arrest.

“This was a second marriage for the accused and during his first marriage, which lasted many many years, there were none of these types of events,” Boro said. “That’s why it’s important to see all the medical issues Mr. Keri dealt with at that time.”