SJax accused of beating pregnant girlfriend

[Varg6]

Its SJ's nephew, not hers. That's why I say that if he sides with her, SJ is toast.

Gotcha. And like Nick said, his words are certainly encouraging. And he's doing the right thing by keeping it away from the media...

I think the nephew scenario and also the hospital are two major factors in this whole situation. The hospital would've noticed domestic abuse as opposed to an accidental bruise...

[AvengerRam]

A question for our resident attorneys - since this appeals to be a civil matter, is there a chance we'll never really know what really happened?

Her complaint will be investigated by the police, and a determination will be made whether a charge will be filed. If no charges are filed, the criminal matter will then end, and all we will be able to surmise is that the police were not able to corroborate the story.

As for a civil matter, there could be several. Apparently there is an ongoing child support issue of some kind. Ms. Harris could also file a civil action for assault and battery (tort claims). SJ could sue for defamation.

If a civil matter results in a judgment, it is typically a public record. A settlement, on the other hand, would almost always be private.

[r8rh8rmike]

Both sides of the story need to be investigated, but the timing and circumstances make this thing reek of setup.

[BEER]

He won't be suspended merely for being accused. If that was the NFL's policy, then Ben Roethlisberger (who was accused of rape in a civil suit) would not have played this year.

There are a lot of unanswered questions (apart from the obvious "did he do it?"):

1. Why did it take so long to file a police report?
2. What is the nephew (the alleged witness) saying?
3. How did TMZ find out about this (was it deiberately "leaked")?
4. Will a civil suit soon follow?

I don't think anyone should jump to conclusions at this point.

Hay!! Every now and then we do agree. I think you right on this one all the way.

[general counsel]

Civil or criminal nick, we will probably never know what really happened. However, to the extent that there is either a trial (civil or criminal) or other information that becomes public (such as at the minimum a statement by the nephew or additional medical documentation or even recordings of her trying to extort money from him, the public will be able to draw their own conclusions.

Remember, in a criminal context, not guilty is not the same as innocent. Not guilty only means that the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It does not mean that the jury concluded that the defendant did not commit the act. In a civil trial, the standard is preponderance of the evidence (ie better than 50-50), not beyond a reasonable doubt. Thats why the oj trial came out differently on the civil side. There are also different rules of admissability of evidence on the criminal and civil side.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[LA Rammer]

Steven Jackson, NO NO NO they mean Stephen Jackson, you know those NBA types

[Azul e Oro]

A truly heinous crime if true but pretty unsubstantiated,imo, to this point by what we've seen & read.

Most of the suspicious inconsistencies/possible legal/NFL repercussions have been mentioned by others but my suspicions that this is false & a money scam have deepened since the latest TMZ report on their website-what a vile muckraking place-now states without source/attribution or corroborating evidence that Ms Harris had already filed for child support officially & that it was undecided at this point. The TMZ article also doesn't state whether the police report pictured has just been filed or if it was filed nearer the time of the alleged incident & now come to light mysteriously.

I've had quite a bit of experience with digital video & photography & it's entirely possible that the difference in skin hue between the scar shot & insert is just the result of lighting or cam settings-even special filters are sometimes used to get uniformly attractive skintones in pics for all types. But the scar does look startlingly distinct, suggesting enhancement, except at the ends where it blurs....

This leads me to a nurse friend's medically-informed opinion . She has been an OB/GYN & ER nurse for over 10 years. She says the scar looks too uniform to be from an accidental trauma & is quite possibly a C-section scar with the length blurred; it looks like the pinkie finger of the hand is covering the navel & that hand is pulling pregnancy-stretched skin up to both emphasise the scar & make it look higher on the abdomen when the actual scar position is consistent with a C-section done at the bikini line-you can see what looks like underwear elastic marks only an inch or so below the scar .

There may also be keloidosis involved; a skin condition that creates heavy scarring on various skin traumas from acne, to wounds, to surgical scars. Keloid scars are particularly common among young African American women.My friend also says that although it is always hard to tell, because of the excessive scar tissue, how serious the initial trauma was, it looks surgically straight( wounds & abrasion keloid scars usually look irregular & bumpy) & serious enough to have warranted much more than an ER treat & release for a pregnant woman in her 9th month who claimed/ was coerced into claiming she suffered a blunt force trauma & serious laceration from, what ?, a shower door handle? And if there were any other signs of trauma like bruising or abrasions or mental distress that would be consistent with her new story, the ER staff is very unlikely not to have alerted at least their social worker or official child protective services, all of which involves paperwork. The liability issues for them are horrific on a lot of levels, in my friend's opinion, if she was let go so quickly.

The point I made in my first post about the difference between TMZ and a legit news outlet is the two-source rule that responsible journalists generally follow before publishing accusations with such serious legal implications. Where are the medical reports that would constitute the obvious second source ?

As others have noted,anyone can file a police report & claim anything....unless you aren't worried about being sued for defamation because the person you are accusing is a public figure who stands to lose millions if he fights it in court, regardless of the final judgement, & is therefore likely to throw money at the situation instead to try to limit the damage to his image/career.

We, inc my nurse friend, could all be wrong,of course. Just not enough info. We are the dog being wagged by the tail right now..

The only thing I'm sure of is that nothing good can come of it but I hope that all concerned recognize & act upon the fact that the only truly important thing is to protect the child both physically & emotionally.

[RealRam]

If he did this he should go to jail.

If she is lying she should go to jail.

Her statement is very specific so I believe the case will hinge on how accurate it is.

If everyone she mentions in the statement confirms what she is saying it would be a slam dunk case.

If not there will always be doubt.

Sad day.

Well said -- almost Salomonic in verdict too.

This SJ scenario is nothing new of course; it seems to be all too common among pro (and to a lesser extent collegiate) athletes that just can't handle their money and man "power". Stupid mistakes for the most part. I too hope SJ will be able to prove himself not guilty as charged.

As for babies out of wedlock ... bah, that's nothinnnng. Practically a whole different topic!

I saw this in the Huffington Post today (okay, mainly TMZ, Twitter, et al messages):

In a statement, Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said: "We are aware of the situation involving Steven Jackson. We are in the process of gathering information. We are always concerned with issues involving our players."

Again, for Jax's peace of mind and for the Rams efforts to improve in 2010, this little scandal in the making, this too shall pass. Let's hope sooner than later! We simply cannot afford this to be a legit distraction.

[unorthodox1999]

TMZ....CNN....NYTimes....pretty much the same thing, right?

Might as well be. After all everyone else goes to TMZ for the story when it comes to scandal.

I bet the story broke out publicly just now 'cause Harris hasnt received any child support money. SMH.

[Trevor]

Steven Jackson, NO NO NO they mean Stephen Jackson, you know those NBA types

Lol I was hoping that maybe they got them mixed up..

[tomahawk247]

This leads me to a nurse friend's medically-informed opinion . She has been an OB/GYN & ER nurse for over 10 years. She says the scar looks too uniform to be from an accidental trauma & is quite possibly a C-section scar with the length blurred; it looks like the pinkie finger of the hand is covering the navel & that hand is pulling pregnancy-stretched skin up to both emphasise the scar & make it look higher on the abdomen when the actual scar position is consistent with a C-section done at the bikini line-you can see what looks like underwear elastic marks only an inch or so below the scar .

Further to this point, shortly before xmas i smashed my head on the ground and now am the owner of a nice scar on my forehead. The kind of trauma that cause my wound is similar to that which would be experienced if someone suffered a beating or was pushed into a door knob. My scar is not a straight line. Its all over the place.
A straight line scar like that is the result of being sliced with a sharp object, not the split caused by blunt force. It looks as though its the result of surgery, as it appears to be caused by a scalpal

[AvengerRam]

Truth is, if no charges are filed, this might be the last we hear of this story.

[RamOfDenmark]

Anyone else thinks this story kinda smells? If it happened in March 2009 why report it almost a year later? Oh right, they're no longer together and she wants full custody of the child + huge child support payments from SJ every month now. The fact that there's an ongoing case about the child support only makes it more likely that she would play this card now. Maybe I'm biased but I have seen this happen a couple of times to people I know (friends/family) - false accusations go a long way in helping the mother get what she wants when the relationship is over. If the child had been older she would probably have accused him of incest (as it happened to one guy I know) or of beating up the child - the mere accusation which can almost be enough on it's own without any evidence in my experience.

The problem is (at least certainly the case in our legal system, probably also in the US, i.e the following is based on my experience in Denmark) the mother has A LOT to gain from making false accusations like this. If she wins she gets full custody of the child, SJ will probably not be allowed to even see his own child, he will have to pay A LOT of money in child support every month until the child is 18 years old, he will be suspended without pay from the NFL, lose out on millions in salary and endorsements & he will go to jail for a substantial amount of time. If however it turns out that she is lying she will only get a slap on the wrist in the form of a small fine, end of story, she most likely retains custody and child support payments, no chance in hell of jail time for her, SJ's reputation probably remains a least a little tainted by the mere accusation even if he was acquitted on all charges. That makes it *very* tempting if you're poor and without morals to simply play the card and see what happens.

Of course if true it would be horrible and indefensible, no question there.

But until it is proved I have to say my gut feeling is she's lying. And it doesn't have anything to do with the fact SJ is a Ram, I would say the same if he was any random guy I don't know, unless it's someone with a prior record of violence. This story smells IMHO.

Ask the nephew who allegedly saw it happen and let him tell the judge what really happened. Then we'll know. Until then it's nothing but rumors.

[Varg6]

Truth is, if no charges are filed, this might be the last we hear of this story.

Let's hope for that.

In a situation like this...say it's obvious that he DID in fact do this, would charges be filed immediately? How long does stuff like this usually take?

I'm assuming it can't be obvious because the hospital would've never let that woman out with the type of beating she claims she got let alone the fact that she was 9 months pregnant at the time...