That’s not true in Greg Hardy’s case. In NC there is a very odd procedural loophole where a defendant can ask for a non-jury trial and then if found guilty, ask for a jury trial.
Greg Hardy was found guilty by a judge on the evidence. He asked for a jury trial and then paid off the person he attacked. How that’s not witness tampering and obstruction of justice is beyond me. But, that’s what he did. And they couldn’t use her prior testimony unless she was incapable of testifying and she simply refused having settled with Hardy for what had to be a pretty large sum. And because in NC, rape and sexual assaults aren’t crimes against the state, the jury trial was moot.
So, Greg Hardy in almost any other state would have been in jail for a very long time for his crimes. He was, in fact, found guilty in court based on evidence.
I’m not sure of the reasoning behind the NC procedural stuff, but it failed to put a criminal behind bars and that’s a shame.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/06/25/greg-hardy-ufc-nfl
By Robert Klemko
Sitting in the kitchen of the no-frills suite of dorm rooms above an MMA gym where he has lived these last 18 months, Hardy was calm and deferential, and growing annoyed that his calmness and deference hadn’t quashed the big question:
Do you maintain the position that you’ve never put hands on a woman?
“Let me ask you this,” Hardy shoots back. “What’s the point of the question?”
As a reader sits there and tries to decide whether Greg Hardy should get a second chance, I say, that’s the first question:
Does Greg still maintain his innocence? “I don’t maintain my innocence,” Hardy says. “The United States government maintains my innocence.”
It goes on like that.
There’s a difference between the government maintaining your innocence and you personally maintaining your innocence.
“I’m an American,” Hardy says, smiling coyly. “Why would I not go with my government?”
You know what I’m saying.
“I don’t. You’ll have to explain it better. I prefer not to get caught in the same trap by being put on the spot and asked the same question I’ve repeatedly answered before.”
I’m not trying to trap you. I just want to make sure that you haven’t changed your stance.
“That’s my answer,” Hardy says now, the smile gone. “My stance has been the same—it’s always been the same. I would ask the readers what their next question is, and why you would you still judge me off of my maintaining my innocence more so than for what I’m doing with my life and moving towards the future. I do maintain my innocence. I do regret what happened. I do feel like that is something that has happened, it’s in the past.”
What people questioned was when you suggested the photos could have been doctored.
“I did not suggest that at all.”
Didn’t you say something like “They can do anything with pictures”?
“Yessir—do you know where the pictures came from? It is in the case file, the one that was supposed to be locked away and never seen again, and what happens when case files are released is people take them and write their own story. ... If you’re going to ask a question, it should be a question that pertains to something relevant and that makes sense, because you
can do anything to photos.”
What’s your theory on how the bruises came about?
“I’m not going to get into all that. I’m gonna keep the same answer I’ve always kept.”
And so here is Greg Hardy, after his ascent to NFL stardom and rapid fall. In May 2014, following his breakout season with the Panthers, Hardy was arrested in Charlotte and charged with assaulting and threatening to kill his then-girlfriend, Nicole Holder. Found guilty by a judge in a bench trial, he appealed for a jury trial under his rights in North Carolina.
Before that trial, however, prosecutors say he came to a settlement with Holder, who declined to testify, and the case was dismissed. The release of photos and graphic accounts of the incident in November 2015, while Hardy was with the Cowboys, turned the public against him for good, and no NFL team would sign him.
He then dedicated his life to a new sport, and is still not apologizing or admitting fault. He says he didn’t do it, and the state of North Carolina isn’t arguing otherwise, and another sports league is putting him back on television, back in your living room.
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This is a long article which you can read in its entirety by clicking the link above.
