The following is BS !- Ray Lewis Apologism and crap:
I don't want to get into a flame war between Ravens and Pats fans, as I've never worshiped at the alter of Ray Lewis. But there are huge differences between his and Hernandez's situations. The biggest and most relevant to your post being how their employers reacted to their arrests. The Ravens, knowing Ray's character and what facts were available at the time, were very confident that Ray didn't kill anyone. So Modell and Billick put their own reputations on the line and stood behind Lewis. Turns out they were (mostly) justified, as it became apparent that Ray didn't kill anyone, WRONG THIS WAS KNOWN FROM BEGINNING and the two men who most likely did the stabbing were acting in self-defense.They were acquitted because RL helped covered it up. If you act in self defense; you dont need to professionally stab-murder, leave the scene, dump the weapon and bloody clothes, and attempt to flee the state.
Meanwhile, Hernandez's employers cut bait immediately, based no doubt on the same things that the Ravens looked at: Aaron's character and the facts of the case that were available at the time. To them it was a no-brainer to release him, and we're starting to see why.
To try to make the two cases, and the subsequent reactions to them by each organization and its fans, seem identical, or even all that similar, is a big reach.
The difference between these cases is INCOMPETENT-(possibly politically motivated) PROSECUTION vs (at least so far) A PATIENT COMPETENT INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION TEAM.
The Atlanta prosecutor charged RL with murder while KNOWING that his own chief witness placed RL in the LIMO at the time of the murder. WHY would you do that????
hmmmm, black prosecutor looking to run in an election rushes prosecution before the investigation is done. Compare that with the AH investigation - - they searched his house (what?) 3 times before charging him.
So Howard (prosecutor) charges him (RL) with a crime he didnt commit. Instead of charging him with accessory and getting him to flip on his compadres. All 3 walk because the prosecutor was an idiot.
The second difference is the 2 criminals are SMART vs STUPID.
RL got his posse in the limo, Sweeting dumped the knife after wiping it of prints, and RL dumped all the bloody clothes where the stupid Atlanta cops couldnt find them and ran his posse back to the hotel to match up their stories before the cops could catch up to them....... despite the fact that they did the murder in the middle of the street of the busiest nightspot in Atlanta (Buckhead).
- Even after RL paid off the victims family to get the civil suit dropped he still never came clean on the whole deal - forced all the folks he paid off to sign confidentiality agreements.
Then when the prosecutor finally did "FLIP" RL for a misdemeanor charge on lying to the cops; RL feeds the prosecutor the story they cooked up in the hotel room that gets his two compadres Sweeting and Oakley off on a self-defense acquittal - that the other 2 guys came after them.
SELF-DEFENSE MY AZZ.....
The one guy was reportedly stabbed (I think it was) 8 times and the blade hit the heart twice and some 4 other vital organs at least once. That is a professional hit. The forensics experts stated you had to know where you were aiming at to hit that percentage of killing strokes - let alone knowing enough to have the right kind of knife to get past the ribs.
Sweeting/Oakley jumped out of the limo with the knife in hand... looking to take the guys out. Essentially chasing after them. But they got off based on RL testimony. Sure the other guys hit him with a champgne bottle --- You see someone coming at you with a knife; WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO - use whatever you got.
At the end of the day; although RL is less of a THUG than AH and the rest of the NFL will vote him into the HoF; I think he rots in a similar compartment of hell when he goes. And if the Atlanta prosecutor didnt have his head up his azz; RL would have done time and Ravens would have dumped him while he was behind bars. But true to their nature, i'm sure Modell/Billick would have waited til the conviction came through to release him. (that to me is their reputation)
The same type of idiots that would tolerate the RLs of the world were on display in Boston - shouting innocent at AH during the perp walk. But i think the proportion of idiots who will tolerate a murdering thug in B-more is higher - particularly when the atlanta prosecution gives the low-information crowd such cover by dorking up the evidence so badly.
I'm just glad the Patriots are willing to man up to the mistake and cut bait as soon as possible on this waste of space.
