The scandal surrounding former Ravens running back Ray Rice has continued to deepen this week after his release by the Ravens for punching his now-wife in the face in an infamous elevator video. First, a longer version of the video was released. Then, the Associated Press has reported that not only was a league executive shown the video in April (long before what the NFL claimed in the wake of the scandal) but that the video was sent by a law enforcement official.
The AP says that a “law enforcement official” had a short voice mail on April 9th from a NFL official thanking him for a copy of the video and she notes on the recorded message that “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
That message would certainly suggest that the denial of knowledge before last Monday is questionable and adds to the controversy over the response of the NFL and Roger Goodell. However, I am more concerned about a law enforcement officer leaking a video to a private party anonymously. Since when does law enforcement collect evidence and then, in a non-public way, throw the evidence over a transom. There has been a long complaint over such leaks from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies designed to punish or pressure individuals.
The NFL announced that former FBI Director Robert Mueller will lead an independent inquiry into the league’s investigation. However, there has been no discussion about the authority or propriety of a law enforcement agent leaking this type of evidence. According to the AP, the officer insisted on anonymity and played the recording. Thus, you have a law enforcement officer who sends evidence to a private party and then gives a recording of that party to the press. It is all clearly calculated to punish Rice, the Ravens and/or the NFL.
I respect the AP’s work on this story, which is terrific. I also believe in the protection of such sources. However, there are legitimate concerns about what law enforcement office was responsible for leaking evidence against an individual for such purposes. There is no indication that the video was sent as part of a criminal investigation or why the NFL would be included in such a distribution. Indeed, it is not clear what office of law enforcement was involved. We do know that the Atlantic City police had reviewed surveillance footage in its investigation.
In the meantime, Atlantic County Prosecutor James McClain has denied special treatment for Rice who was able to enroll in a special treatment program despite his knocking his future wife unconscious and dragging her out of the elevator. As a first offender, he was given the alternative to jail — the same opportunity that other defendants have been accorded.
Source: CNN
Why do some women not only stay in abusive relationships but after break up, habitually enter other abusive relationships?
It’s complicated. Trite but true. Which is also to say, I don’t know.
One woman stands out in particular. She alarmed me because she was beat up badly by her boyfriend. Bruises, bleeding. Called the cops. Got him arrested. Cooperative 1st meeting, less cooperative 2nd meeting, uncooperative 3rd meeting. I eventually dealt with her on 3 different cases, 3 different men, nearly identical circumstances.
Her pattern with us was the same. Start cooperative, but by the 3rd meeting, uncooperative. We treated her the same way each time – we followed strict procedures for DV – and we tried our best to connect her with our office’s formidable victim services. She frustrated them, too. It was obvious she was as much subject as object in her abuse.
Forgive my morbid fascination with details, but is anyone else amazed by how she went down? It didn’t even seem to me like Rice even got any hip rotation in that punch, and she still went out like a light. I don’t know the force required to knock someone unconscious, but clearly these guys are walking weapons.
OK… even if you excuse his retaliatory punch… I treat a bag of potatoes better then he did when he drug her out of the elevator. It was like, “awww, cripes, now I gotta drag this mess outta here…”
@Rafflaw
You said, “Many women refuse to leave their abusive husbands/boyfriends out of fear.”
Oh, that is nothing but a bunch of male patronizing BS!!! You PRESUME that women are not “rational” actors doing what they want for their own reasons, but poor, helpless, defenseless little wimmins who have to have the big protective male come in and save them from the other big, mean male. Whatta bunch of archetypical hooey!
You know the real reasons why a lot of women don’t leave??? 1. Because they are too damn lazy to get a job and support themselves. 2. The rough stuff turns them on. 3. They like all the pity party stuff when their mommies and daddies come to their aid, and they like all the attention they get as victims. 4. They’re really stupid.
In other words, the same kind of sick mental stuff that goes on with a lot of men.
You are such a chauvinist pig!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Fix: …
asand oppose the prosecution.Karen S: “It is my understanding that no charges were filed because they both attacked each other.”
In the biz, we call that a cross complaint, and the mutual circumstances are mitigating.
It also seems that Rice’s wife was an uncooperative witness. Now, the State can press forward with a criminal case based on evidence without the victim’s consent, and the video is compelling, but it makes the case harder to prosecute, obviously. It’s not uncommon for DV victims to eagerly participate in a vigorous defense as oppose the prosecution.
When there isn’t a recidivist record or other indicator the victim is especially endangered by the defendant (was there even an order of protection?), prosecutors generally are more willing to incorporate the victim’s request for leniency.
Squeeky, I respect you philosophy on this. But, this is about $$$$! The NFL doesn’t give a rat’s ass about violence to women and they sure as hell don’t care about gay rights. But, they do care about branding and boycotts. The PC and hypocrisy is so think you can cut it w/ a knife.
@NickS
I don’t think Rice is a thug. The problem the NFL has is a PC problem, in that they are trying to put themselves into a position to preach crap to the rest of us. I don’t watch football games to become a better citizen. I watch them because they are fun, and because there are so many commercials, you can do a lot of other stuff while the game is on.
Now, the NFL is trying to teach me to be tolerant of all that gay nonsense, which I am not, and have no intention of being. Now, they are preaching the “war on women” meme at me, which I find personally insulting. They are even getting into Breast Cancer, which if they are truly interested, they could just cough up some big bucks and screw all the silly little pink ribbon stuff.
I agree with DBQ that what Michael Vick did was far worse. Yet, he went to prison and did his time. So we move on. We should also move on with Ray Rice. Plus, it is none of our damn business.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
KarenS, It depends on the state. I live in the most open record state in the union. Although the duopoly is trying to change that. Anyway, in Wi. they would be open records. My educated guess is there would be a few more states w/’ those rules. The northeast is pretty closed and anti-open so I bet Jersey probably wouldn’t consider them open records. But, that’s a guess. I can research it if you like. Gratis!
Nick – good for both of them! I love dogs.
Very interesting responses. Is it ever right for a man to hit a women who is his fiancé so hard she is knocked out? It doesn’t matter if she was drunk. It doesn’t matter that she hit him earlier and it doesn’t matter that they got married afterwards. It is never right. Many women refuse to leave their abusive husbands/boyfriends out of fear.
As to the NFL, For some reason they are a Not for profit corporation and yet Goodell made $40 Million plus last year. They should not be allowed that favorable status. If Rice had not been in the NFL, he would never have been treated this lightly by the prosecutors, IMO.
rafflaw – the more important question is: Is it sexist to put the onus on the male. Video shows she hit him before they got into the elevator, so, is he defending himself?
DBQ – Michael Vick is dirt to me.
DBQ, We have a friend who is a retired KC attorney. She runs a no kill shelter in rural KC. All of the volunteers there would shoot Vick if given the chance. A woman I went to college w/ lives outside Philly. She protested several days when the Eagles signed Vick.
” My point is, if his wife isn’t worrying about it, why the heck are we??? Talk about butting into people’s lives. My goodness, this is just the PC crap run amok.”
I realize that entertainers and other public figures are frequently held to standards very different from the rest of us.
Nevertheless there seems to be unstated assumption that employers should take action against the accused before or in addition to the criminal justice system. That belief seems to be motivated by a desire to support victims – mostly women- and punish abusers – mostly men.
I don’t believe that view holds up to scrutiny. Of course, in a situation that involves violence we want to assure the safety of the victim. But in addition we should assure the best possible outcome for the family.
There would seem to be only two possibilities. In the first case the abuser gets help, overcomes the use of violence and the family stays together. In that case it would seem important that that the abuser maintain his or her employment to support the family.
In second case the family might separate. In that case it is likely that it is even more important that the abuser maintain his or her employment since separation frequently causes even more stress on the family and family finances.
The move for additional punishment of the abuser by firing from his or her job is misguided in that is places additional stress on the family and undermines family stability.
bfm – I am wondering what kind of due process he got.
JT: “In the meantime, Atlantic County Prosecutor James McClain has denied special treatment for Rice who was able to enroll in a special treatment program despite his knocking his future wife unconscious and dragging her out of the elevator.”
Yep. I worked on a lot of DV during my days in the DA’s office. A lot of DV and a lot of drug/alcohol-related cases, a lot in combination. The Rice case in all the facets that I’ve seen in the media, including the behavior of his then-fiancé, now wife, is not at all extraordinary. There’s plenty worse.
Nick – I just read your post. Does evidence become public record even if charges were not filed? I thought it was only released if there was a trial or conviction, but it sounds like I might be wrong.
Squeeky, I would bet a C note Rice’s career is not over. As long as he can score touchdowns, he will find a job. Probably not this year. But, look @ it from Rice’s attorney’s position. Here’s what he would say.
“The NFL had the elevator footage when they suspended my client for 2 games. When the footage was leaked to the press they suspended my client for the entire season. That is patently unfair.” And, as my friend Haz suggested elsewhere, maybe Rice should state his drunk fiancé kept saying how she loved the name :”Redskins” and the morally outraged Ray Rice just couldn’t take it anymore. LOL. That would be a PC conundrum!! You know his wife would go along.
Nick – I like your solution. She was taunting him that he would to traded to the Redskins and he could not take the abuse. It became a ‘fighting words’ issue.
This makes me very sad. Perhaps some good can come of this, as it’s an opening to talk with sons and daughters about domestic violence, and what to do about it.
I have not seen the longer video, because you can’t unsee footage like that. But I listened to a description of it in an interview. It is my understanding that the wife physically attacked Ray Rice. When they were alone in an elevator, Rice got his vengeance by knocking her out. It is my understanding that no charges were filed because they both attacked each other. But the attacks obviously did not occur at the same time.
There are some who say that both parties were equally to blame, because they both engaged in physical violence.
I disagree.
If she struck her husband, then she was wrong. But unless she had a weapon or special training, she could not inflict as much damage as he could. It’s like a Chihauhau attacking a German Shepherd. If a woman attacks a man, he should either vote with his feet, and walk away, or he should pick her up, deposit her outside, and lock the door. Then he should promptly break up with her, because anyone who attacks you once will likely do it again. A man should never, ever hit a woman back unless he is in legitimate fear of his life, for instance if she is wielding a knife. This was simply a case of him stewing about their fight, and waiting for when he thought he did not have an audience. How wrong he was.
And the same goes for her – if a man attacks you physically once, you break up with him, because he’ll likely do it again. You don’t go and marry him.
But that is the pattern of victims of domestic violence – they excuse and protect their attacker, say they brought it on themselves. They choose their attackers over themselves, and often over their own children. From the outside, I cannot understand why women stay with men who beat them or their children. Cops I’ve known have told me they’ve begged and pleaded with bruised women to leave their attackers, but they often don’t and refuse to press charges. Even though her pressing charges are not required, the DA often does not pursue if she’s not willing to cooperate. Then the cops get frustrated and jaded. But perhaps a domestic abuse counsellor should be part of these calls, because they understand what we don’t.
And it is common for damning evidence to be leaked about public figures. It would be part of the public record if charges were filed and there was a trial, but not otherwise (it is my understanding.) Perhaps this cop felt it was a miscarriage of justice for no charges to be filed.
Depending on what she did, if they were both charged, she should have a lesser charge than he did because she was the one actually injured. He could have killed her or given her permanent brain damage.
And shame on the NFL for lying. I listed to the press conference in which an official denied having viewed it previously. I found him believable. He was either lying, or wasn’t told. But the truth needs to come out about who knew what and who lied. Then let the public vote with their dollars.
Sorry!!!!! for the photo being posted for the faint of heart. 🙁 I thought it was just going to be a link. BTW: this was one of the better, less horrific photos. But……reality is what Vick did is much much worse. Yet…we pile on to Rice.
jonathanturley: “However, I am more concerned about a law enforcement officer leaking a video to a private party anonymously. Since when does law enforcement collect evidence and then, in a non-public way, throw the evidence over a transom.”
Yes! I’m glad you addressed this.
Especially having worked for the DA’s office, I’ve been non-plussed by the notion that the NFL can and should have obtained a copy of the CCTV tape from law enforcement, like it’s normal and okay for the police to release evidence to a defendant’s employer or other 3rd party.
If Rice had instructed his own attorney to share the video with the NFL, then it’s a non-issue. But even if Rice had asked the police to share the video with the NFL, if I were the prosecutor, I’d have to give that at least a think before signing off (again, presumably, Rice has his own copy, but the action would set an odd precedent).
In the coverage, there seems to be an implicit conflation of police possession of investigative evidence with evidence in a public court record.