Reports indicate that Brandon Marshall, 27, may have given police a false statement (a crime) in saying that he was cut by a broken vase. Moreover, police indicate that when his wife admitted stabbing him, she said it was in self-defense (laying the grounds for a possible abuse charge).
These domestic dispute cases are notoriously messy. Here Marshall is in the position of many women who initially deny abuse to police. They are rarely charged with making false statements. However, in this case, his wife has raised self defense. If these reports are correct, both may have made initially false statements that can be used by prosecutors to pressure one party against the other.
In this case, Marshall’s wife is only 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds while he is 6-foot-4 and weighs 230 pounds. A factor that might be cited by Marshall’s wife if she continues with her reported self-defense claim.
Such claims can raise issues under morality clauses in NFL contracts — endangering the player’s career (particularly if the injury is sufficiently serious to make team uncertain anyway about his performance in the next season). The crossed claims and false statements in this case has started out badly for Marshall, who is in obvious need of not just intervening medical but legal care.
Source: CNN
Jonathan Turley