Ray Rice is reinstated to NFL after winning appeal

While many levied criticism at Jim McClain, the prosecutor in Rice’s case, over the lack of prosecution, McClain did note in September 2014 that even under the harshest punishment Rice could have received, he would not have faced jail time.

McClain also noted that even had Rice received probation as a result of prosecution, he would have eventually been able to remove the assault from his record.

Ray Rice and his wife Janay are still working every day to repair their relationship in the wake of Rice’s February 2014 assault on his then-fiancee at an Atlantic City casino. The incident was caught on tape, later released in two parts by TMZ.com and touched off the largest ongoing scandal in NFL history, which was driven by the violent scene on the video and the league’s bumbling response to it.

Rice is no longer suspended from the NFL, but he is trying to make a comeback. He and Janay opened up about their lives up to and in the wake of the incident in an extensive interview in the latest issue of New York Magazine. You can and should read the whole article online, but here are a few takeaways from it.

In Feb. 2014, Rice struck his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in a hotel elevator in Atlantic City. The incident resulted in Rice being charged with aggravated assault charges, one day before the duo were married. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell handed out a two-game suspension in July. In September, TMZ released a second video of security footage, showing Rice brutally punching Palmer with his right hand, knocking her unconscious. The NFL immediately moved to suspend Rice indefinitely with the Ravens releasing him the same day.

Following the wrongful termination suit being settled, the Ravens released a short statement on the matter, per the Baltimore Sun:

Rice’s apology appeared in Friday’s edition of the Baltimore Sun:

Rice was initially suspended for the first two games of the campaign for domestic violence before TMZ released additional security footage to showing Rice’s actions inside the elevator at an Atlantic City casino last February. At that point, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell decided to reconsider and made the suspension to indefinite. Rice was also released by Baltimore the day the tape went public.

Originally, there had been a hearing scheduled for Thursday to determine whether the Ravens owed him $3.5 million for cutting him in the hours after video surfaced publicly of him striking his then-fiancée, who is now his wife, Janay Palmer. However, a settlement was reportedly put in place several days ago. Now, both Rice and the franchise are able to move on from this lengthy process.

Rice is a free agent, available to sign with any team. He missed the entire 2014 season following his off-field issues and was highly unproductive in 2013, averaging a paltry 3.3 yards per carry.

The investigation, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, encompassed “millions of documents, emails, text messages and electronic data logs” and included interviews with “more than 200 NFL employees and contractors.” Its mission was two-fold: 1) Find out whether the NFL ever obtained the in-elevator video depicting Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee Janay Palmer and 2) Determine what information was available to the NFL during its investigation before it handed Rice an indefinite suspension.

According to report, the NFL was likely telling the truth when it insisted that it never saw the video before it was released to the public by TMZ last September. That doesn’t mean that it did everything it could to obtain the video, nor that it even needed to see it to understand exactly what Rice had done, however.

The video picks up right after Palmer was knocked unconscious by Rice in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino on Feb. 15. Concerned hotel staffers escort a visibly distraught Palmer into the lobby, where she is separated from Rice. As Palmer sobs, Rice sits in a chair on the other side of the room being questioned, first by casino security and then by police.

Hotel staffers appear to administer first aid to Palmer and at one point a wheelchair is rolled in for her, though she eventually walks out of the lobby under her own power.

“The way it was handled indicates the NFL was behind the curve ... in sending a clear message. You don’t want to be winging it like something like this happens. You want to have clear policies in place.”

While the President said he’s glad that the controversy has brought much-need attention to the issue of domestic violence, he was critical of not only the NFL, but of football culture at large for allowing the issue to go unchecked for so long.

Specifically, the NFL refutes OTL’s claims that league representatives never contacted law enforcement offices in an attempt to procure the now-infamous surveillance footage of Rice punching his then fiancee in a casino elevator.

As detailed in the OTL report, Goodell wrote the NFL owners on Sept. 10, stating that “on multiple occasions, [the NFL] asked the proper law enforcement authorities to share with us all relevant information, including any video of the incident.” However, NFL investigator Jim Buckley wrote in an email the day before Goodell’s memo that he “never spoke to anybody at the casino or the police department about the tape.”

From over-delegation to assistants, to comically bad note taking, the report paints Goodell as out of touch and ill-prepared to handle Rice’s case, especially ahead of the onrush of criticism he received following TMZ’s release of a video tape depicting Rice knocking out his then-fiancee in an elevator.

The OTL report was released shortly after the NFL revealed its new personal conduct policy, approved unanimously by owners during a Wednesday meeting in Dallas. The new policy puts a greater emphasis on the NFL’s internal investigative arm to determine discipline for violations of the policy by players and personnel. It also leaves the commissioner overall appeals with the power to rule on them.

Roger Goodell announced a new personal conduct policy at the NFL owners meetings Wednesday. The new policy will make several changes to how policy violations are handled. For example, accused players will immediately be placed on paid leave after they have been charged. In addition, the policy will apply to league personnel and team owners.

The NFL Players Association has raised several objections to proposed changes in the months leading up to Wednesday’s announcement, and is expected to challenge the new policy. The union released a statement regarding the policy change:

NFL owners are meeting in Dallas on Wednesday to discuss a final version of the league’s new personal conduct policy. On Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal released a behind-the-scenes report covering commissioner Roger Goodell’s journey to this point, telling the story from Goodell’s perspective. It’s filled with highlights about just how seriously he takes his duty to The Shield, from long nights without pizza to dutifully checking in on America’s little people who clearly benefit from the NFL and the example it makes.

Some highlights:

“You grow up and you think you know it all,” Rice told Lauer. “I had a ceiling over my head. I was a professional athlete. That ceiling sometimes is -- you put yourself in a place where you don’t really understand where you’re going, but somebody else tells you that that’s not reality.”

Janay Rice said that the Ravens gave her “a general script” for her heavily criticized apology at a May press conference addressing the incident in Atlantic City. Lauer asked Ray Rice why he didn’t also apologize during that press conference. Rice said that he “made a horrendous mistake” not doing so.

Rice tallied more than 1,000 yards rushing in four consecutive seasons before the worst season of his career in 2013, in which he managed just 3.1 yards per carry.

Judge Barbara Jones didn’t surprise anyone by what she ruled Tuesday -- Ray Rice should be reinstated from an indefinite suspension. The surprise came in what she revealed in her 17-page explanation of the decision. Not only did Jones find Rice was honest with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during their June 16 meeting, but the NFL’s case was incredibly flimsy, built on semantic arguments and poor note taking.

There are several significant (and/or head-scratching) takeaways revealed in the decision. The thrust is that Goodell and the NFL were unprepared to defend why it raised Rice’s suspension upon the release of a second video tape depicting his assault on his then-fiancee (now his wife) in an Atlantic City casino elevator.

Ginsberg wrote that Goodell “punish[ed] [Rice] a second time for an offense about which Commissioner Goodell had been fully and completely aware when he imposed the original suspension.”

Ginsberg’s statement can be read in it’s entirety below.

“I still find it hard to accept being called a ‘victim.’ I know there are so many different opinions out there about me -- that I’m weak, that I’m making excuses and covering up abuse -- and that some people question my motives for staying with Ray.”

In the interview, which was conducted by Jemele Hill, Janay details the events leading up to the infamous elevator assault in Atlantic City, stating that she and her then-fiance became drunk and annoyed with one another while partying with two other couples at a casino. Her memory of the incident itself is “foggy” -- she remembers going into the elevator and then coming to in the casino lobby surrounded by police.

The drama isn’t quite over. Rice won his hearing in front of a neutral arbitrator, and with that victory comes a brand new batch of questions to consider. Where and when will be see Rice again? And what is to come for Goodell and the NFL? Let’s discuss:

Will Rice play again?

After the conclusion of an appeal hearing that featured testimony from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the league lifted its indefinite suspension, which it levied on Sept. 8, an increase of Rice’s original two-game suspension.

Since its release, the NFL echoed the Ravens’ sentiment that it had not seen the video detailing the assault. Goodell maintained that stance throughout the process. The hearing took place in early November after the former Ravens running back filed a grievance against the league for wrongful termination.

“I failed miserably,” Rice said. “But I wouldn’t call myself a failure cause I’m working myself back up.”

Rice was accompanied by his wife, his mother and his daughter. Janay Rice sat next to her husband during the press conference and, curiously, also spoke, apologizing for her “role in that night” though simple assault charges against her were eventually dropped. Footage from the night showed Rice dragging his wife’s unconscious body from an elevator.

What was said during that June disciplinary meeting between the former Ravens running back and Goodell has become the crux of the hearing, which concluded Thursday. Rice, who is seeking to overturn the indefinite suspension the NFL handed to him before the season for assaulting his then-fiancee, claims he was forthcoming with the commissioner. Goodell, who testified in court on Wednesday, contends that Rice’s account was ambiguous.

The primary argument presented by Rice and his legal team was that the NFL invoked double jeopardy when it expanded his original suspension. They say Goodell and the league were aware of the details of the assault when Rice’s original two-game suspension was handed down, and that Goodell had no new information when he upped Rice’s punishment to an indefinite ban.

Goodell’s testimony lasted more than two hours, according to Schefter. The report also noted the embattled commissioner was the first witness called following the opening statements by the league and the NFL players union, which is representing Rice in the appeal. After answering questions for the NFL’s legal team, Goodell was cross-examined by Jeffrey Kessler, union attorney also known for his ongoing antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA.

Rice was caught on video dragging his wife unconscious out of an elevator in an Atlantic City casino earlier this year. Police reports cited the incident as a domestic dispute culminating in Rice striking his wife unconscious. When the NFL learned of the incident, it initially suspended him for two games. Later, when a second video was leaked publicly that showed the graphic images of Rice punching his wife, the league suspended the running back again, this time indefinitely. Rice is appealing the second suspension, claiming the CBA prevents a player from receiving two punishments for the same act.

Goodell had previously declined to testify. Instead, the NFL made Adolpho Birch, senior VP of labor policy, and Jeff Pash, NFL general counsel, available for the appeal, according to reports. Goodell, however, was heavily involved in the situation and his testimony appeared crucial to Rice actually getting due process in his case.

More than a month has passed since video surfaced of Rice punching his fiancé in an Atlantic City casino elevator, knocking her unconscious. The NFL, which had previously suspended the running back two games, issued an indefinite suspension, and the Ravens released him outright.

Update: Goodell will indeed be forced to testify, here is why that is so important.

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Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice officially filed a grievance against his former team, citing wrongful termination, per a report.

The move was expected from Rice, who is now fighting back against both his team and the NFL. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Rice is expected to cite the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states a player can only be punished once for an infraction.