Dennard Jury has a verdict

[CheeseMonkeys]

My guess is that he gets a maximum of 30 to 60 days in jail. More than likely he'll have to do somewhere around 100 hours of community service and Goodell suspends him for 4-6 games. We will be seeing him next season.

 

[mgteich]

You do understand that a video was part of the evidence?

Instead, he went down for hitting a police officer despite much murkier evidence that he struck the man, and even murkier evidence that it was his intent.

Obviously, Dennard was at fault in this incident. Just seems like getting a felony over a bar scrum that left no one hurt is an overreaction.

 

[mgteich]

OK, let's take your numbers.

The jail time would be finished long before the season starts. A suspension of 4-6 games is higher than anyone else has estimated, but even this is less time than a player on the PUP list. I would expect to see Dennard this year. He will likely play in the preseason, unless his suspension time includes preseason games, in which case he will miss fewer actual games.

My guess is that he gets a maximum of 30 to 60 days in jail. More than likely he'll have to do somewhere around 100 hours of community service and Goodell suspends him for 4-6 games. We will be seeing him next season.

 

[supafly]

OK, let's take your numbers.

The jail time would be finished long before the season starts. A suspension of 4-6 games is higher than anyone else has estimated, but even this is less time than a player on the PUP list. I would expect to see Dennard this year. He will likely play in the preseason, unless his suspension time includes preseason games, in which case he will miss fewer actual games.

There is also a lot of speculation that his potential suspension would be fought tooth and nail by the union, meaning that he would never actually even see the suspension for the 2013 season at any point in time.

It would be tied up in appeals and litigation, much like some of the cases that we've seen in the past couple/few yrs.

The article by the Herald makes reference to this too. Just something for us all to keep in mind while our speculation and discussion continues.

 

[BrickPat]

Apparently in Nebraska you can go around punching anyone else, because Dennard was not punished for striking Samani. Instead, he went down for hitting a police officer despite much murkier evidence that he struck the man, and even murkier evidence that it was his intent.

Obviously, Dennard was at fault in this incident. Just seems like getting a felony over a bar scrum that left no one hurt is an overreaction.

It is a felony in NE to hit a cop, that law was in effect for decades and wasn't created/applied just because of Dennard. The elements of that law likely don't require that someone be injured for it to be a crime. Dennard didn't become a felon over a bar scrum be became one for hitting a cop. It's pretty cut and dry. If this were Alfonso the Plumber no one would care.

As far as the sentence the judge has reportedly only been on the bench for about a year and she doesn't have much of a track record to predict how lenient/harsh she will be in sentencing. Having said that a fine and 6 mos probation would be more than appropriate. It doesn't matter how angry the police officer may be (haven't seen much evidence that he is but I digress) because you'd be hard pressed to see many first time offenders doing ANY jail time forA&B on a P/O in any state.

 

[BrickPat]

My guess is that he gets a maximum of 30 to 60 days in jail. More than likely he'll have to do somewhere around 100 hours of community service and Goodell suspends him for 4-6 games. We will be seeing him next season.

I still don't understand how Goodell can do anything considering the infraction took place before he was even drafted by the NFL. Does he have a track record of disciplining players for their PRE NFL transgression(s)?

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

You do understand that a video was part of the evidence?

Both sides pointed to a 17-second cellphone video as supporting their version of events. Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Matt Acton said the video showed Kopsa reeling after being hit. But Dougherty said the video revealed no actual punch.

Jury finds former Husker Dennard guilty of felony assault on officer - Omaha.com

I haven't read it anywhere that the video shows the punch. Just because there's video evidence doesn't mean it's conclusive video evidence.

 

[IllegalContact]

I still don't understand how Goodell can do anything considering the infraction took place before he was even drafted by the NFL. Does he have a track record of disciplining players for their PRE NFL transgression(s)?

The kenrick Ellis case provides precedence

 

[patman52]

The kenrick Ellis case provides precedence

My take also, Ellis did not get suspended either.

 

[jmt57]

I still don't understand how Goodell can do anything considering the infraction took place before he was even drafted by the NFL. Does he have a track record of disciplining players for their PRE NFL transgression(s)?

The kenrick Ellis case provides precedence

Goodell did nothing with Ellis, but on the other hand he did suspend Terrelle Pryor for five games. On the other hand Pryor made himself available for the supplemental draft rather than the regular draft, and was not going to be able to play in college due to what had been going on at Ohio State.

 

[patman52]

Perhaps it is OK for future millionaires to punch cops in RI. Have you ever lived in a red state? In Nebraska, there likely would be demonstrations and much political flak if a future millionaire received a suspended sentence and a $25K fine.

I was stationed down south for 4 years.

First time offenders are first time offenders. The purpose of the punishment to to deter future behavior of the same sort.

I am not privy to the evidence, but my understanding was that Dennard was walking away, the cop stopped him and Dennard struck the cop ONCE. And the background is that some community members submitted affadavits or testified that this behavior was not typical of Dennard. Then there is the first time offender status.

Hitting the cop once is big, it was not a continuous assault where the cop was struck multiple times, but a momentary lapse. The cop did not need treatment for an injury. He will very likely never be in trouble again in Nebraska. And the judge is well aware that Dennard will also suffer from a civil suit.

 

[mgteich]

Everyone saw the video. Dennard's attorney argued that no punch was thrown. The jury decided that a punch was thrown.

Jury finds former Husker Dennard guilty of felony assault on officer - Omaha.com

I haven't read it anywhere that the video shows the punch. Just because there's video evidence doesn't mean it's conclusive video evidence.

 

[Metaphors]

I don't know much about Nebraska, but I would imagine that Husker football is in the top 3 of people's priorities with God and guns (order negotiable). Putting the screws to Dennard sends a message to future recruits from out of state that they may want to think twice about heading to Lincoln. The judge may not care and in an ideal world it shouldn't be a factor, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Everyone saw the video. Dennard's attorney argued that no punch was thrown. The jury decided that a punch was thrown.

You brought up the video as proof that the evidence that the jury used to convict Dennard wasn't murky. Now you're using the jury's finding as proof that the video was conclusive. This is purely circular reasoning that does nothing to disprove the original statement that the evidence was murky nor my statement that the video was inconclusive.

 

[mgteich]

What is conclusive is that a jury determined that Dennard was guilty of punching a police officer.

You brought up the video as proof that the evidence that the jury used to convict Dennard wasn't murky. Now you're using the jury's finding as proof that the video was conclusive. This is purely circular reasoning that does nothing to disprove the original statement that the evidence was murky nor my statement that the video was inconclusive.

 

[mgteich]

fair enough

I was stationed down south for 4 years.

First time offenders are first time offenders. The purpose of the punishment to to deter future behavior of the same sort.

I am not privy to the evidence, but my understanding was that Dennard was walking away, the cop stopped him and Dennard struck the cop ONCE. And the background is that some community members submitted affadavits or testified that this behavior was not typical of Dennard. Then there is the first time offender status.

Hitting the cop once is big, it was not a continuous assault where the cop was struck multiple times, but a momentary lapse. The cop did not need treatment for an injury. He will very likely never be in trouble again in Nebraska. And the judge is well aware that Dennard will also suffer from a civil suit.

 

[IllegalContact]

Goodell did nothing with Ellis, but on the other hand he did suspend Terrelle Pryor for five games. On the other hand Pryor made himself available for the supplemental draft rather than the regular draft, and was not going to be able to play in college due to what had been going on at Ohio State.

The nflpa will likely get involved if goodell does do anything.

 

[mgteich]

Of course. They always get "involved" when a player is suspended, as is proper.

The nflpa will likely get involved if goodell does do anything.

 

[supafly]

Dennard's prosecutor claims today that he's looking at anywhere from probation to 180 days in jail.....Definitely good news that we should have him for the duration of the season.

Dennard’s crime usually carries a sentence of six months or less | ProFootballTalk

 

[supafly]

The nflpa will likely get involved if goodell does do anything.

Like I said yesterday, too many are overreacting to the max end of the sentencing thanks to some stupid media reports from those outside of the NE area.

Dennard doesn't score too high as a first-time offender who is a local college graduate and employed in the NFL, so I couldn't possibly see anything more than a year max--where he'd serve about 6 months.
My concern was that the 6 months wouldn't be starting until mid-late April and that would take us into October, thus making him a "PUP type" situation.

His prosecutor said today in an interview that most people in his situation get anywhere from flat out probation to 180 days in jail, so we can take that as a major step in the right direction.


If he is suspended (unlikely) it will be tied up in appeals and litigation, as referenced by the legal expert in the Herald article yesterday too. We'd see another case of the Saints players who continued to play all throughout the year, and the whole thing would be over a 1-2 game suspension anyway.

Major case of overreaction here. We will have Dennard.