Statement From Vikings Owners Regarding AP

[huskylawyer]

Well, it is easy to explain. I'm an attorney, so I have a lot of appreciation for well thought out punishment, due process, and letting ALL the facts come to light.

As a "lawyer" you want all the facts to come to light, ok. But at what time does physical evidence, doctor documentation and admission of the act itself not constitute all the facts? Is there something that we are missing in this that would magically mean he didn't beat his kid with a switch until he raised welts? Your assumptions are ludicrous, and I have serious doubts that you are, in fact, a lawyer.

Ha ha. Go to Dawgman.com. I have over 5,000 posts, and I go by "HuskyLawyer." Created my account over 10 years ago. I comment on legal issues all the time, so I must be an incredible fraudster to do that for over 10 years. Went to U-Dub undergrad, Michigan Law School, worked at Perkins Coie (the largest last firm in the State of Washington), and now I co-own a small 7 attorney IP law firm (that litigates). So now we can dispense with the, "I have serious doubts that you are a lawyer." That's played out. If you need a resume, send me a PM

Yes, we have pictures, and an apparent admission. But that doesn't mean, "go to directly to jail, do not pass go." Peterson has a right to be judged "by his peers." Guess who those peers are? The people from Texas who will be on the jury. I would not assume that a bunch of Texans will instantly say, "guilty." They might very well say, "AP got carried away, but it should not be a crime." AP has one of the best trial lawyers in the country representing him (Hardin). Hardin reprsented Clemens (acquitted), Steve Francis from the NBA (acquitted), the list goes on. Hardin has a everyman Southern style that resonates with juries. Also keep in mind that a grand jury DECLINED TO INDICT prior to the Ray Rice situation. That means a grand jury, which normally can "indict a ham sandwich" decided that charges should not be brought. However, it is my understanding that the prosecutor re-submitted after Ray Rice fiasco, so he got the indictment. So it wasn't a "case closed" by any stretch of the imagination.

Everyone should know now that pictures, videos, and even admissions don't necessarily equate to guilt in a criminal proceeding. As I said before, I thought the LAPD unlawfully beat the @#$@$@ out of Rodney King, and they had video. They were acquitted. YOU may think this is "case closed" but anyone with experience in the legal system knows that rarely are things black/white.

 

[RolandDeschain]

I'm gonna have to bust out some Denzel Washington from Training Day on this one:

"It's not what you know, it's what you can prove!"

 

[huskylawyer]

I'm gonna have to bust out some Denzel Washington from Training Day on this one:

"It's not what you know, it's what you can prove!"

Are you a wolf or a sheep!!??

 

[Scottemojo]

Instant news, instant reactions.

Just like Ray Rice, with visual evidence producing a more visceral response. I know I recoiled a lot more when I saw the pictures. Add AP's texts to the pile of evidence, and why wait for a slow court?

Fair point.

That said, I'm going to have to differ on the LA Riots commentary. The LA Riots happened precisely because of graphic video evidence which caused enormous outrage. If Twitter had existed back then, it would have made the reaction that much more explosive.

Contrast the LA Riots with Ferguson, where the visual evidence was far less and the story behind the incident was far more complicated. It wasn't really grounds for a riot at all, yet it sparked one because of a snowballing reaction on twitter and the media. Next thing you know, you've got millions of dollars in property damage, 10 people injured and 15 more arrested. All while thousands of people show up without even knowing what they want to change. The whole country turned upside down for weeks for a guy who nearly killed a cop with his bare hands before getting gunned down by the same cop. The cop was within his legal rights, and there is no evidence that race played a factor in the incident. And yet, everybody blew it way up.

A couple days later, a completely innocent an unarmed black man was shot and killed in an incident that quite possibly could have involved racism. That case got zero reaction. So why the lack or reaction? No picture was taken.

Point being, the twitter rage phenomena is not based on ideals or intelligent discourse, but purely on emotion with no room for rational thought. The problem with leaving these kinds of issues up to a reactionary populace is that it is bound to lead to irrational decisions and inconsistent punishment.

I'm not wild about letting an angry mob make decisions for Goodell. Code of conduct policy shouldn't be determined by which cases people choose to be angry about and which cases they ignore.

Maybe you misunderstand my point.
For the King case, they moved the trial to a conservative rich area and it was rigged to acquit from day one. There were months of outrageous acts from authorities that built hostility that culminated in terrible riots. Social media did not exist, the people rigging the trial for acquittal operated in much more of a vacuum when it came to knowing how average joe felt about the bullshit proceedings. I hope that would be less likely now. I never got the feeling that people in South Central thought the rest of the country shared their outrage, and that was part of the violence. Ferguson was remarkably non-violent considering the circumstances, I hope that was in part due to locals knowing that the public was on their side. Of course, the DA in Ferguson may decline to file charges and the town might burn then, and I will be totally wrong.

 

[bmorepunk]

I think AP does love his children as crazy as that may sound after looking at the pictures. The problem is he is so misguided by ancient practices that he thinks this will SAVE his child. That is the problem here and a lot of people don't see it. People like him think that its better "that I beat my child" so he is a better person than to let the streets or the cops take him. He scared his child will end up in prison or worse. This fear drives a lot of these practices. I don't live in the South so it's hard to understand.. Sad situation really..

Physical punishment is also used as a method to break an angry child's pride and embarrased them from ever doing the act that warranted the punishment again. With some kids this method works, and other kids it is better to punished by taking away a right or privalged. I know it is either Korea or the Philipines that uses caning on grown adults for misdemeanors.

Neither Korea nor the Philippines have official corporal judicial punishment. The countries near them that do are Brunei, Indonesia (Aceh), Malaysia, and Singapore (which is probably the country you're thinking of).

 

[kearly]

Maybe you misunderstand my point.
For the King case, they moved the trial to a conservative rich area and it was rigged to acquit from day one. There were months of outrageous acts from authorities that built hostility that culminated in terrible riots. Social media did not exist, the people rigging the trial for acquittal operated in much more of a vacuum when it came to knowing how average joe felt about the bullshit proceedings. I hope that would be less likely now. I never got the feeling that people in South Central thought the rest of the country shared their outrage, and that was part of the violence. Ferguson was remarkably non-violent considering the circumstances, I hope that was in part due to locals knowing that the public was on their side. Of course, the DA in Ferguson may decline to file charges and the town might burn then, and I will be totally wrong.

The clarification is appreciated and enlightening.

With Ferguson, I still think too much was made of it, while the facts of the case have been whitewashed by those with agendas and others with a predisposition for sanctimonious grandstanding.

The officer acted within the confines of where deadly force is allowed, there isn't any legal leg to stand on for prosecutors. I'm not saying what he did was right, but these kinds of laws exist to protect officers and it's fairly unlikely they would make changes that could compromise officer safety in the future.

I understand where the Ferguson frustration comes from. It's the equivalent of the wife blowing up on you for something really petty, when it's actually a case of her being mad about dozens of things and that was the straw that broke the camels back. Ferguson was more of a tipping point than anything else.

Maybe some people felt it was a chance to pile on and get some kind of concession. I've been guilty of doing the same with regards to Roger Goodell.

I think this case was cathartic, a chance to vent frustrations. I just wish they had picked a better example than a guy who had committed multiple felonies minutes before his death, and who nearly killed the cop himself before being gunned down. The protesters have basically acted as if the facts don't matter, and that doesn't sit well with me.

 

[kidhawk]

Guys, can we get back to the topic at hand (the Vikings, AP, DV and child abuse)

Although the Ferguson case is an interesting topic there is plenty of discussion going on in the PWR on it and you can find that here:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=94746

Thanks

 

[huskylawyer]

Now the government wants to bar AP from seeing his son, and of course, ban any corporal punishment.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...ng-keep-adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-son

I'm just waiting for the inevitable state sponsored "re-education" program with shock treatment and water boarding for those that don't comply (I kid..I kid..but you get the point).

 

[kidhawk]

Now the government wants to bar AP from seeing his son, and of course, ban any corporal punishment.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...ng-keep-adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-son

I'm just waiting for the inevitable state sponsored "re-education" program with shock treatment and water boarding for those that don't comply (I kid..I kid..but you get the point).

From what I heard, it was mandated by law that they seek the injunction. If I heard correctly, it also doesn't bar him from seeing his son, only unsupervised. I'd say that it's fair to call for supervised visits with children when abuse is alleged.

 

[huskylawyer]

Now the government wants to bar AP from seeing his son, and of course, ban any corporal punishment.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...ng-keep-adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-son

I'm just waiting for the inevitable state sponsored "re-education" program with shock treatment and water boarding for those that don't comply (I kid..I kid..but you get the point).

From what I heard, it was mandated by law that they seek the injunction. If I heard correctly, it also doesn't bar him from seeing his son, only unsupervised. I'd say that it's fair to call for supervised visits with children when abuse is alleged.

You are correct, and though I kid about the "re-education program" I tend to agree with you that it isn't too crazy.

But I still don't like the slippery slope implications.

 

[kidhawk]

Now the government wants to bar AP from seeing his son, and of course, ban any corporal punishment.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...ng-keep-adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-son

I'm just waiting for the inevitable state sponsored "re-education" program with shock treatment and water boarding for those that don't comply (I kid..I kid..but you get the point).

From what I heard, it was mandated by law that they seek the injunction. If I heard correctly, it also doesn't bar him from seeing his son, only unsupervised. I'd say that it's fair to call for supervised visits with children when abuse is alleged.

You are correct, and though I kid about the "re-education program" I tend to agree with you that it isn't too crazy.

But I still don't like the slippery slope implications.

I'm not anti-spanking, but there are lines, and from what I'm seeing, it appears that Peterson doesn't quite know where those lines exist. I believe that he just wanted to discipline the child and that it got out of control, but that's the thing. He's an adult hitting a 4 year old child. He's not allowed to let it get out of control. There needs to be some from of punishment that helps to insure that he doesn't continue to cross the line when disciplining children. As a society, it is our job to protect those who cannot protect themselves when their parents don't.

 

[hawk45]

AP will have plenty of due process when it comes to legal punishment. The pace of judgment will be much more measured than what his son received after swiping a video game controller from a friend and being beaten for it.

Human beings seeing photos and hearing AP's admission don't have to wait to form judgment, and it's not hypocritical or misguided at all; we get to choose if we can stomach a child beater on the field or whether we change the channel or tell the NFL that we'll ignore a lot, but we won't ignore this and keep consuming their product.

I never had much use for Twitter until now. It does my heart good to see the athletes who bask in twitter adoration be torn down right quick by the same mechanism instead of it all going on outside the view of the people who keep the NFL going: the fans.

I don't say I love fans who get on twitter and be big men behind a computer screen calling out players for every little misstep, but expressing outrage at AP's *admitted* actions and influencing how the NFL deals with it is just fantastic with me. I don't have the least concern for what a court decides is the proper punishment for AP . I just know I don't want him on my team or on the field, and so many people feel the same that his butt sits on the bench and the NFL is in crisis mode, as it should be. Leaves in mouth, striking the kid's scrotum and leaving him bleeding. These are admitted acts.

Attorneys have a natural instinct to wait for all the facts, I respect it and it's critical when it comes to due process. Damage to public image occurs outside that sandbox, and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with that.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

It's worth noting that if he's going to be judged by his peers in Texas -- whether or not that kind of action may be seen as less than criminal. I mean what are the odds that many of them may have had the same punishment or even meted out the same punishment themselves. They are an interesting bunch down there.