Sentence stems from club brawl

  BY LISA ARTHUR

  After spending a month in jail, a contrite Jose Canseco apologized to a Miami-Dade circuit judge and prosecutors on Monday for treating the justice system with a cavalier attitude and violating probation on assault charges.

  Despite his remorse, Canseco, a former Major League Baseball most valuable player, will spend two years under house arrest and three years on probation after that. He will have to check in with a probation officer weekly and ask for permission to leave home or travel.

  He also has to take an anger management class and perform 250 hours of community service.

  Any missteps would bring even more serious consequences, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Leonard Glick warned.

  ''I would not hesitate for one minute to send you to state prison,'' Glick told Canseco, as the former slugger stood with his head bowed and hands cuffed in front of him. He wore a bright orange jail jumpsuit. He has been in a county jail since Feb. 19.

  Canseco, 38, who grew up in Miami and attended Miami Coral Park High, had angered the judge several times during the case, which stemmed from a brawl at a Miami Beach nightclub in 2001. Once, he failed to show up for a hearing, sending a note from his doctor that said he was recovering from elective surgery.

  Canseco and his twin brother, Osvaldo ''Ozzie'' Canseco, pleaded guilty to felony assault charges last year. Jose Canseco could have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

  In exchange for the guilty pleas, both brothers were placed on probation. Ozzie Canseco has been meeting the requirements, according to court officials.

  Jose Canseco failed to meet any of the requirements. He told Glick on Monday that he had learned his lesson and called spending a month in jail ``my worst nightmare come true.''

  ''I'm sincerely sorry,'' Canseco said. ``I never meant to hurt anyone or disrespect anyone. I embarrassed my family and friends. . . . Now I know the seriousness of
  probation.''

  Glick told Canseco he owed prosecutors an apology.

  ''All these folks were asking you to do was the basics,'' Glick said. ``It was the deal of the century.''

  Glick and prosecutors Jon Granoff and Joshua Gradinger said they believed Canseco's time in jail had served as a wake-up call, and they believed his remorse was
  sincere.

  Glick refused to transfer Canseco's house arrest to California, where his daughter lives. Canseco, the American League MVP in 1988, won't be required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, but will have to report weekly to probation officers, according to his attorney Gustavo Lage.

  ''And they can go to his house to check on him at any time, with no notice,'' Lage said.

  The Canseco twins, 38, grudgingly pleaded guilty in November to aggravated battery for breaking the nose of an Opium Garden patron and splitting the lip of another during a 2001 brawl.

  The brothers maintained they were protecting Jose's date, who they said was harassed by two men from California in town for a business convention.

  Lage said the brothers were accepting the plea deals to get the case over with and protect their families, not because they were guilty.

  In exchange for that plea, Glick placed Jose Canseco on probation for three years and ordered him to perform 250 hours of community service and take an anger
  management course. He also ordered Canseco to pay court costs.