The victim in Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs’ legal matter requested a permanent seal of discovery evidence after Jacobs pleaded no contest to charges of battery and criminal damage to property last week. According to FOX 11 News in Green Bay, Judge Marc Hammer, who is overseeing this case, denied the victim’s motion for a permanent seal due to a paperwork issue. Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the request was “not in the proper format for the Brown County court system” and the judge
encouraged her legal team to refile the request.
According to the documents provided to FOX 11 News, the motion was declined on Tuesday and was officially filed on Thursday.
Below was the justification for keeping evidence from entering the public sphere, from the perspective of the victim’s representation:
The Court finds that public disclosure of the Discovery Material would threaten or substantially impair ANM’s privacy, dignity, personal security, emotional well-being, or ability to participate safely in the criminal-justice process. This protection is not to impede any legitimate law-enforcement function, criminal prosecution, judicial proceeding, or disclosure otherwise required by law, but to prevent unnecessary public dissemination of information that identifies ANM, reveals intimate or sensitive details of ANM, or creates a material risk of harm.
ANM is an acronym used for the anonymous woman identified as Jacobs’ girlfriend.
At the moment, the next hearing in this case — where we might see the judge making a ruling on the refiled paperwork from victim’s team — is set to overlap with the same day as a nationally televised Packers game, as Green Bay will host their first home game of the year against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday, September 24th.
Evidence, particularly a video, is becoming a crucial piece of this story, as the police report stated that a forensics analysis team was able to recover footage from a camera in Jacobs’ garage that shows part of “the altercation.” Per the police report, the running back “grabbed [victim] and threw her to the ground and she struck her head” while she tried to leave Jacobs’ residence via the garage after a dispute that originated over text messages.
The police report states flatly that she is seen on the ground in the garage and that “approximately 40 seconds later, Jacobs returns to the garage and appears to damage ANM’s phone.” What is unclear, because of the wording of the police report, is whether or not “the altercation” includes the portion of the dispute where Jacobs had a physical interaction with his girlfriend.
Fueling the fire for interest in the video is that the NFL is reportedly attempting to acquire the video prior to making a ruling on Jacobs’ return to the field. At the moment, Jacobs is on the commissioner exempt list, essentially a purgatory situation as it stands right now. He’s not officially suspended by the league, and any time on the commissioner exempt list will essentially function as time served toward a suspension — if the NFL suspends him — but the league has yet to make a decision on whether they will suspend Jacobs or for how long.
Jacobs’ legal team asked for a temporary order to seal evidence, which is why the video evidence is still sealed today. For whatever it’s worth, Jacobs’ request was filed on September 10th — the day of his no contest plea — while the victim’s original request was filed on September 15th. Below was the justification that Jacobs’ representatives filed with the court for the evidence being sealed:
The Court finds that public disclosure of the Discovery Material would threaten or substantially impair Defendant’s and [the victim’s] privacy, dignity, personal security, emotional wellbeing, or ability to participate safely in the criminal-justice process. This protection is not to impede any legitimate law-enforcement function, criminal prosecution judicial proceeding, or disclosure otherwise required by law, but to prevent unnecessary public dissemination of information that identifies [the victim], reveals intimate or sensitive details of [the victim] or the Defendant, or creates a material risk of harm.
The timing of the NFL’s punishment for Jacobs and the potential release of a video is important to the league, as Ray Rice took the NFL to arbitration over his indefinite suspension in 2014. Initially, the league only suspended Rice for two games, but after the video of his domestic violence incident went public, the NFL pushed him more severely. In the end, it was ruled that the league only had one opportunity to suspend the running back for a single personal conduct violation, because Rice never misled the NFL, and he was paid back for the game checks that he missed while on suspension.
The NFL learned the hard way back in 2014 that they only get to use the suspension button once per case, as long as they aren’t misled, and can’t just use the temperature of public perception to a video to justify added punishment. Because of that Rice ruling in 2014 and the situation surrounding the video evidence in this case, the league’s announcement of a potential Jacobs suspension is taking some time.
