http://mmqb.si.com/2015/04/23/nfl-greg-hardy-the-mmqb-mailbag-nfl-schedule-making/
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Hardy’s New Bench Trial
Greg Hardy was convicted and then cleared of domestic-abuse charges by the North Carolina judicial system. A look at why the NFL’s new disciplinary process still suspended him for 10 games
By Peter King
The new NFL was on display Wednesday afternoon when it suspended Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy for the first 10 games of 2015 season, without pay, for allegedly assaulting and threatening to kill his former girlfriend in May 2014.
Though a judge found him guilty in a bench trial last July, Hardy was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing by the North Carolina judicial system in February, when prosecutors dropped charges instead of proceeding to a jury trial.
But the new NFL, in which a former sex-crimes prosecutor handles domestic-violence investigations and a former ATF czar oversees disciplinary rulings, didn’t rely on a conviction in order to proceed with severe punishment.
The NFL Players Association will likely appeal the suspension, and argue that Hardy’s being unable to play in 15 games last year while on the commissioner’s exempt list (with pay) should count as a suspension and time served.
My guess is that the NFLPA will win a reduction in the 10-game suspension, the same way it won lesser sanctions for Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson in their respective domestic-abuse cases. Such an appeal and a possible adjustment to the suspension won’t surprise the NFL—nor will it alter the league’s new way of handing down discipline in these types of cases.
It was clear that the NFL was going to suspend Hardy for at least six games, and probably more, after Roger Goodell put more teeth into his domestic-violence policy last August. At that time, part of his letter to team owners about his new policy said:
“Effective immediately, violations of the Personal Conduct Policy regarding assault, battery, domestic violence or sexual assault that involve physical force will be subject to a suspension without pay of six games for a first offense, with consideration given to mitigating factors, as well as a longer suspension when circumstances warrant.
Among the circumstances that would merit a more severe penalty would be a prior incident before joining the NFL, or violence involving a weapon, choking, repeated striking, or when the act is committed against a pregnant woman or in the presence of a child.”
A reasonable argument can be made that someone who was suspended with pay last year—and that’s essentially what the commissioner’s exempt list did to Hardy—should not be double-jeopardized and have to serve another suspension (without pay) in 2015. But this is something the NFL had to do, or it would have been accused of not backing up its new policies with legitimate action.
If this 10-game suspension stands, then Hardy will be held out of 25 games, one-and-a-half seasons of play. That would the longest contiguous suspension of any active player in league history. We’ll see if, on appeal, Hardy’s punishment is deemed egregious.
Hardy never faced a jury trial in North Carolina because prosecutors couldn’t locate the alleged victim, Nicole Holder. (According to media reports, she had reached an agreement with Hardy in a civil suit.) Lisa Friel, the former sex-crimes prosecutor who is now the NFL’s senior vice president and special counsel for investigations, attempted to interview Holder but wasn’t able to.
Most of the NFL’s evidence was gleaned from the disturbing testimony, documents and photos that were presented at the bench trial nine months ago. In that trial, Holder testified that Hardy threw her onto a bed filled with guns in his Charlotte home, that he put his hands on her throat and left visible marks, and that he threatened to kill her.
According to the NFL’s press release on Wednesday, the league described another aggravating element that factored into Hardy’s suspension: “The NFL’s investigation also concluded that Hardy failed to provide complete and accurate information to NFL investigators and members of the NFL staff.”
A month after the NFL hired B. Todd Jones away from the ATF to oversee player discipline, the league suspended Hardy for 10 games just days after he filed paperwork in North Carolina to have the domestic-abuse charges officially expunged from his record.
In March, Hardy signed an incentive-laden, one-year deal with the Cowboys that could have been worth as much as $13.1 million if he were to play the whole season.
In the old NFL, in the absence of a legal conviction, he might have played virtually the entire 2015 season. But with Friel having conducted her own investigation, and concluding that weapons were present in the alleged assault, that Hardy put hands around the neck of the victim, and that he wasn’t entirely forthcoming in his dealings with the league, he won’t be eligible to return until the Cowboys play his old team, the Panthers, on Thanksgiving Day.
My view: Whether the NFL wins or loses this on appeal, a message has been sent. The new policy puts teeth into rulings on domestic violence cases that didn’t exist before.
