A former judge overturns Roger Goodell’s indefinite suspension of Rice following his domestic violence incident. But will any team sign him?
Ray Rice is back—if anyone will have him.
Former federal judge Barbara Jones overturned the NFL’s indefinite suspension of Ray Rice Friday, calling the NFL’s decision to kick Rice out of the league, after a video emerged of him attacking his future wife in an Atlantic City elevator, an “abuse of discretion.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell originally suspended Rice for two games, but added to the penalty after the disturbing elevator video was made public; Jones is basically saying that the NFL should have gotten it right the first time. She noted that the NFL never asked Rice for the elevator video — which was in Rice’s possession — in its initial investigation. This mystifying decision will dog Goodell for a long, long time.
Goodell has said that the contents of the video clashed with Rice’s description of the event during their conversation. “What we saw was new evidence [the elevator tape] that was not consistent with what was described when we met with Ray and his representatives,” Goodell told USA Today in September.
Jones disagreed, saying that she “was not persuaded that Rice lied to, or misled, the NFL at his June interview.”
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SOURCE: TIME
Sean Gregory
