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Tag: court case
Adrian Peterson Expected To Plead Not Guilty Today

Adrian Peterson Expected To Plead Not Guilty Today

By Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Benched Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson will plead not guilty in a Texas courtroom Wednesday to a felony child abuse charge. Peterson was indicted Sept. 12 on a charge of child endangerment, accused of striking his 4-year-old son with a switch — a tree branch with the leaves removed — so badly that the boy had bruises and scars days after the incident in Texas.
What happens today? Peterson must appear at a hearing in Conroe, Texas. His lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Peterson will plead not guilty.
Why not guilty? Peterson has admitted hitting the child, but contends it was intended as discipline, not to injure the child.
What could happen? It depends on what the judge wants, according to Montgomery County prosecutor Phil Grant. Judge Kelly Case may order discovery, or the collection and sharing of information. He could impose restrictions on Peterson’s activities while awaiting trial. He could also set boundaries for media contact. The judge will set a schedule for how the case proceeds from here. Closed-door plea discussions are possible at any time, but those wouldn’t be public until or unless a deal is made.
How soon will he go to trial? A trial date could be scheduled later this year. A date soon would be “highly unusual,” Grant said. Usually, cases in which the defendant is in jail are tried before those in which the defendant is free, such as Peterson, who posted $15,000 bond last month, Grant said. But the judge has discretion to schedule cases. Lawyers have previously said they expected a trial in 2015.
Will he be back to play for the Vikings this season? If he were to plead or be found guilty, he would probably be required to serve an immediate NFL-imposed suspension for a number of games.
Will he go to prison? If found guilty, the presumptive sentence is two years. But first-time offenders rarely go to prison.
What is he doing now? He is in Texas, occasionally tweeting from his account, @AdrianPeterson. He is on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list and not playing. He still collects his $11 million salary.

AFP Photo/Dilip Vishwanat

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Reinstated NFL Star Peterson Says ‘I’m Not A Child Abuser’

Reinstated NFL Star Peterson Says ‘I’m Not A Child Abuser’

Minneapolis (AFP) — Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, reinstated on Monday by the NFL team, declared he was not a child abuser despite charges of injuring his four-year-old son with blows from a switch.

Peterson, who was deactivated from the playing roster for Sunday’s 30-7 home loss to New England, is able to return to practice with plans to play next Sunday at New Orleans.

The Vikings sidelined Peterson last Friday after he was charged in Texas with reckless or negligent injury to a child after using a tree branch to spank his son with blows so hard he still bore the marks days later.

“I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser,” Peterson said in a statement released by the Vikings.

“I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day.”

Peterson surrendered himself to Texas authorities early Saturday morning and was released on bail with a trial not expected until next year, after the end of the season.

Later Monday, Peterson’s lawyer Rusty Hardin refuted a report by KHOU-TV in Houston that Peterson is under investigation on allegations he injured another son in June of 2013.

According to the report, Peterson allegedly disciplined the boy for “cussing to a sibling,” resulting in an injury to the four-year-old’s head.

Hardin said in a statement quoted by the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minnesota, that the allegation of another investigation “is simply not true.”

“This is not a new allegation, it’s one that is unsubstantiated and was shopped around to authorities in two states over a year ago and nothing came of it,” Hardin said. “An adult witness adamantly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son. There is no ongoing or new investigation.”

Peterson said Monday that he knew many had strong opinions on the issue of corporal punishment of children and his conduct in particular.

“Regardless of what others think, however, I love my son very much and I will continue to try to become a better father and person,” he said.

– Peterson was hit as a child –

Peterson said he was imposing the same discipline to his son that had been used upon him as a child.

“I have learned a lot and have had to re-evaluate how I discipline my son going forward,” Peterson said. “I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man.

“I love my son and I will continue to become a better parent and learn from any mistakes I ever make.”

Peterson said he has met with a psychologist over the matter and had learned there are “other, alternative ways of disciplining a child that may be more appropriate.”

Peterson said his attorney has asked that he not discuss details of the case.

“Nevertheless,” he said, “I want everyone to understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child.”

Peterson said he told a grand jury and two different police interviews without a lawyer that it was never his intention to harm his son.

– Vikings owners vow vigilance –

Before Peterson’s statement, Vikings’ owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, in a statement on the team’s website, defended their decision to let legal matters play out before making any more steps to bench the star rusher.

“We take very seriously any matter that involves the welfare of a child. At this time, however, we believe this is a matter of due process and we should allow the legal system to proceed so we can come to the most effective conclusions and then determine the appropriate course of action.”

Peterson’s scandal hit the world’s richest sports league the same week the league saw an uproar over star rusher Ray Rice, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens and banned indefinitely by the NFL after a video was released showing him brutally punching the woman who is now his wife in a hotel elevator.

AFP Photo/Dilip Vishwanat

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Robin Thicke Says He Didn’t Write Controversial Hit

Robin Thicke Says He Didn’t Write Controversial Hit

Los Angeles (AFP) — Robin Thicke’s blockbuster but much criticized hit “Blurred Lines” grew even more controversial as the singer revealed he never wrote it, according to court documents.

The Hollywood Reporter on Monday printed Thicke’s previously confidential disposition to a Los Angeles court where he volunteered that he had been high on the painkiller Vicodin and alcohol when he recorded the song and that he was not sober during later media interviews.

Thicke, speaking under oath, said that Pharrell Williams — who later released the smash hit “Happy” — had written “Blurred Lines” on which both perform. Thicke said he was envious and lied.

“After making six albums that I wrote and produced myself, the biggest hit of my career was written and produced by somebody else and I was jealous and wanted some of the credit,” he said.

“The record would have happened with or without me. I just was lucky enough to be there when he (Williams) wrote it and I was in the room,” Thicke said, according to the court documents reproduced by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Blurred Lines” was a worldwide hit in 2013 but faced charges it was misogynistic due to its refrain — “I’m gonna take a good girl / I know you want it” — and an accompanying video that prominently featured naked women.

The hearing in April was part of a court process over claims by Marvin Gaye’s children that “Blurred Lines” copied the late legend’s song “Got to Give it Up”. A trial is expected next year.

Thicke earlier said that “Blurred Lines” was inspired by the Motown great. In court, Thicke hinted that racial factors were at play in his earlier comments, saying he had been called the “white Marvin Gaye” and sought to “embellish” the connection.

Despite his frank admissions, Thicke said he was sober during the court appearance. He said his separation two months earlier from his wife, actress Paula Patton, had led him to clean up his lifestyle.

AFP Photo/Charley Gallay

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Rice Will Appeal Indefinite Suspension: Reports

Rice Will Appeal Indefinite Suspension: Reports

Baltimore (AFP) — Ray Rice, the National Football League star banned indefinitely after video of him knocking out his then-fiancee surfaced, will appeal the suspension, according to multiple reports.

NBC, the Baltimore Sun and ESPN on Sunday reported that Rice, a star running back who helped the Baltimore Ravens win last year’s Super Bowl, would challenge the indefinite ban handed down by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell shortly after the Ravens fired Rice last Monday.

The same day, an Atlantic City casino elevator video revealed by TMZ showed Rice swinging a brutal left-hand punch that knocked Janay Palmer unconscious last February.

Rice avoided jail time on domestic violence charges from his brutal punch by agreeing in May to a pre-trial intervention program.

Goodell, who has guided the NFL since 2006, imposed only a two-game ban on Rice in July, one that drew widespread criticism as too lenient.

Last month, Goodell said he had made a mistake and toughened future NFL penalties for domestic violence.

But after imposing the indefinite ban, Goodell said any team wishing to sign Rice must come to Goodell first.

Rice is expected to argue “double jeopardy,” that he is being punished twice for the same rules infraction.

The NFL Players Association will push the appeal in part to establish a process and punishment terms under Goodell’s recent plan to toughen such penalties for domestic violence.

The union has until late Tuesday to file an appeal, a deadline set by Friday’s letter from Goodell to the union outlining the reasons for the tougher punishment on Rice, whose original ban would have ended Friday.

Goodell has said that the video showed details substantially different from the account Rice gave of what happened in the elevator when he spoke to Goodell about the incident.

Goodell says no one at the NFL saw the video although reports that the video was sent to the NFL prompted the league to have an independent investigator, former FBI director Robert Mueller, look into the matter.

Mueller will have access to all records and employees of the league, Goodell said, and the probe will produce a public report.

Critics have questioned the oversight role for the probe of two NFL team owners who are attorneys, Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and John Mara of the New York Giants, both past supporters of Goodell.

Losing his job with the Ravens cost Rice the remaining $10 million on his contract.

AFP Photo/Ronald Martinez

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