As the NFL prepares to take action on Browns defender Deshaun Watson’s long-term investigation, some details of the scope of the review have emerged.
Friday’s article from Mark Maske Washington Post, which drew more attention to the suggestion that the league would initiate formal disciplinary proceedings by recommending a one-year ban on Watson, also explains that the NFL interviewed “at least” 11 of the 24 plaintiffs represented through Lisa Friel. lawyer Tony Buzbee, “with other women.” Friel also reviewed the “relevant available documents”. Also, as previously known, Friel interviewed Watson in Houston for a total of four days.
It is unclear why the remaining 13 applicants were not interviewed. The two only appeared recently. Did the remaining 11 refuse? Or did Friel decide they didn’t need their accounts?
It is also unclear who the “other women” are? Two lawsuits against Watson have not been sued. Eighteen massage therapists issued statements of support to Watson at the beginning of the process. Recently Jenny Vrentas New York Times Watson reported that she had received a private massage from at least 66 women in 17 months.
The term “relevant available documents” can be extremely broad, ranging from all text messages and social media posts from Watson’s various massages to all testimonials for civil complaints, responses to complaints, and other paperwork created in 24 cases. Friel could also ask attorney Rusty Hardin to give the league a “pack,” which was sent to Harris County Attorney Johna Stallings for transmission to a large jury. If it was good enough to get a big jury not to prosecute Watson, Friel should be curious to see how the package describes the case – especially if something Hardin said contradicts his own impressions based on a careful examination of the evidence.
This is a lot of material to review. However, for the sake of completeness, each document must be consulted. Something that affects the final decision can lurk everywhere. This is one of the main litigation involving a large number of documents. Someone has to look for needles in haystacks, not knowing that some needles are even lurking in the hay.
One thing that didn’t happen was that, as Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told Mike Meltser in a recent podcast interview, neither Brown nor Browns contacted him. Both the league and the team would certainly say that they did not do so because he could not tell them anything about the jury proceedings. But conversation always has value. Even if he is limited to what he can tell them on the record, building a good relationship with Ogg – since the process started – could have provided useful non-recording instructions.
This is how this world works. How to make different sausage forms. If Friel and Ogg (and / or Stallings) had formed a relationship that led to mutual trust, Friel could have found out why Watson was not charged. Perhaps, as I believe, Ogg and Stallings suspected that Watson had done something he should not have done, but they believe that creating “reasonable suspicion” by Rusty Hardin and his legal team is unavoidable, and they dismissed it as a practical act. on. other aspects of the legal system, be it through civil actions or, as Ogg told Meltser, through the administrative process.
It is still unknown what he will do too soon. It is not clear how thoroughly the situation has been investigated. But anything that is less than complete and utterly thorough is not thorough enough if one too wants someone to believe that he wanted to make an accurate, clear, and legitimate decision about what Watson did or did not do and what the consequences will be. should or should not be.
The fact that more cases are being filed and there seems to be more information makes it, frankly, impossible to know everything before a decision is made. Therefore, in the end, the best decision could be to suspend Watson’s career as a player until everything is known in the league about the behavior that has led to 24 actions, two more to be filed, and perhaps even more after that. – especially if, for example, the belief that too much was not done to remedy the situation becomes a catalyst to bring even more women to justice.
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