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NFL Puts Ray Rice Into Double-Jeopardy
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 9, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
When
55-year old NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Baltimore Ravens’ running
back Ray Rice for two games July 24, the league gasped at such a light
punishment for a domestic abuse incident in Atlantic City. NFL possessed an incomplete video of
Rice dragging his then fiancée Janay Palmer out of a hotel elevator last
February. While the video was
incomplete, the league concluded that Rice had engaged in domestic abuse,
knocking her out in the elevator.
NFL officials concluded at the time that Rice should pay $58K fine, face a two-game
suspension, costing rice $470,588 and complete a domestic violence program. NFL officials knew back then that
Rice KO’d Palmer in the elevator, dragging her out unconscious. Newly released TMZ Sports Sept. 7
video showed the full elevator altercation in which Palmer spat and punched Rice
before he knocked her out.
New higher quality law enforcement video of the February incident showed
an intoxicated Palmer and Rice shouting obscenities at each other before they
both became physically aggressive.
While nothing excuses Rice’s domestic abuse, the NFL already gave their verdict,
concluding it was an appropriate punishment for the 27-year-old Super
Bowl-winning running back. “The
Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon,” said
team officials after the NFL suspended Rice indefinitely after viewing the more
complete video. “It’s something we
saw for the first time today, all of us,” said Raven’s Coach Jim Harbaugh. “It changed things of course, it
made things a little different,” referring to the actual video of Rice punching
Palmer. Raven’s owner Steve
Bisciotti, team President Dick Cass and General Manager Ozzie Newsome all agreed
Rice must go.
Domestic abuse has plagued professional sports for years, something
highlighted in the notorious 1995 O.J. Simpson double-murder trial where a
transfixed world saw graphic photos of Nicole Brown Simpson’s battered face
before ultimately knifed to death June 17, 1994, most likely by Simpson despite
his eventual acquittal Oct. 3, 1995 thanks to the legal Dream Team led by the
late Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
Suspending Rice indefinitely from the NFL and terminating his contract with the
Raven smacks of double-jeopardy, since the NFL and Ravens already ruled July 24
on his fate. Because they saw the
whole video does not mean the NFL or the Ravens have a right to try, convict and
charge Rice for a second time. NFL
officials in determining the July 24 punishment assumed the worst-case scenario,
something not visible in the first TMZ Sports video showing Rice dragging Palmer
from the elevator.
When Harbaugh says, “it’s something we saw for the first time today, all
of us,” he referring to the actual punch.
Yet the NFL in determining Rice’s appropriate punishment concluded that
Rice punched and knocked out Palmer in the Atlantic City hotel elevator back in
February. Rice originally suggested
he dragged out his drunk-and-unconscious girlfriend from the elevator, denying
domestic abuse. When Rice accepted
his over $58K fine, two-game suspension and completion in a domestic abuse
prevention program, the case was closed
Opening the case back up just because the altercation was worse that
expected violates Rice’s due process.
It doesn’t help matters when President Barack Obama offers his two cents
about “real men don’t hit women.”
Since the February incident, Rice has accepted his punishment and shown the kind
of contrition needed to move on.
Marrying Janay Palmer March 31 only one day after a Baltimore grand jury
indicted Rice for third-degree aggravated assault, doesn’t undo the incident but
highlights the complexity of human relationships. Alcohol and human emotions have been
known to cause problems for otherwise law-abiding citizens. Pittsburgh Steelers Super
Bowl-winning quarter back Ben Roethlisberger was twice accused in Nevada and
Georgia of raping and sexually assaulting women in 2008 and 2010. While the district attorneys in both
counties refused to file charges, league officials remained silent. What irked NFL officials and Raven’s
upper management were Rice’s attorney Michael Dimondstein’s denials. “We vehemently deny that Mr. Rice
committed an aggravated assault,” Dimondstein told the Atlantic City Press. Both Rice and Miss. Palmer are
together, they are happy and they are in counseling.”
NFL officials and Raven’s front office have a problem with how they’ve
violated Ray Rice’s due process.
When the punished Rice July 24, they concluded that Rice domestically abused
Palmer, slapping him with a $58K find and two-game suspension, costing Rice of
more that $500,000. After seeing
the actual punch in a newly released video changes no material facts used to
suspend and fine Rice for domestic abuse July 24. While denied by Rice’s attorney,
accepting the league’s fine and suspension and agreeing to attend domestic
violence prevention training, Rice copped to his misdeeds back in February in an
Atlantic City hotel elevator. “Law enforcement normally has more . . information, facts, than we have. We’ll get as much as we possibly can,” said Goodell.
Suspending Rice indefinitely and terminating his contract puts the
27-year-old running back into double-jeopardy.
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