I have not been in a relationship for 7 years and not even sure that I want to be. To sum it up, I've not been good in choices as far as the men I've gotten involved with in the past. I seem to pick the ones that don't want commitment, for one.
I recently met a man that wants to spend time with me. He's 61 and I'm 54. The problem is that I checked the local "Public Access" records of the county I live in and 10 years ago this man was charged with Harassment by phone and Domestic Battery. In a conversation we recently had he told me that his wife had cheated on him and her boyfriend had called him at work and harassed him. All I can hear in my head is "Warning, Warning"! Do I give this man a chance and find out the circumstances, or do I walk away and don't look back? I work strange hours so have not been able to go out with him yet. We have basically talked by phone and I will run into him at work. I do contract work for his employer, and will start a new schedule in the next week where I won't see him at all. Maybe this is a good thing. Input please! Thank you!

People can and do make mistakes, especially when it comes to catching a wife cheating.
What have his relationships since then been like?
Do you see any other red flags?
People can change.
If you give him a chance just proceed with caution.

You need to learn a lot more, and not just take his word. There are always two sides of a story, but the truth is what you need, before you put yourself out there. The key word is "before".

Thanks so much for your input. I will definitely give this time and take things VERY slow. There will only be two days a week I can spend with him, and every other weekend I will have my grandchildren one night.

Who did he beat up? The wife or the guy?

I would say it would be a problem if he beat the wife.

I'm not sure who he beat up, all I know is that it was "domestic battery". When I do discuss it with him, I will hopefully get an honest response.