re: #374 lawhawk

It’s sad on so many levels. Her husband got away with committing assault on her - local prosecutors diverted his case so he avoided prosecution. He avoided jail. He’s lucky in that respect that the only thing he’s lost is essentially a year’s salary.

He’ll be back in the sport by next year. Maybe making a little less than his salary this year, but like Michael Vick, Ben Rothelsberger, and Ray Lewis, he’ll be back on the gridiron because teams simply can’t pass up talent, even when that talent commit all manner of criminality.

This is still all on the NFL and Ravens. They knew, or had reason to know, of the video. They knew he committed assault, and yet they gave him a slap on the wrist. The only reason the NFL and Ravens did what they did yesterday is that the actual video of the assault surfaced courtesy of TMZ Sports. They would have been just as happy ignoring all this and letting the season play out.

The underlying facts of Rice’s case didn’t change one iota. It’s only that the public realized just what Rice did in the elevator - the vicious hit that sent her sprawling and knocked her out. The public had previously seen the video of Rice pulling an unconscious Janay out of the elevator, which hinted at what happened. That wasn’t enough to get more than 2 week suspension from the NFL and the prosecutor didn’t think the case was serious enough?

The case reveals just how the NFL sees players and criminality. They’ll act only when the image of the sport or team is adversely impacted. The commissioner has always had the power to suspend people for the good of the game. Their “new” domestic violence policy just makes official the power that the commissioner has always had and makes it more consistent.

what I don’t understand is why such an act isn’t prosecuted as attempted murder or manslaughter. He could have killed her.

If a professional boxer or black belt did that, wouldn’t be be a very serious crime?