GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Lawyers representing the victim in the battery case involving Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs have filed a motion to seal evidence.
“The motion is consistent with our client’s desire to protect her privacy, particularly in light of Mr. Jacobs taking responsibility for his actions in the criminal proceeding,” Ramses Jalalpour and Amir Tahmassebi said Tuesday in a statement.
ESPN first reported the filing of the motion.
Jacobs pleaded no contest on Thursday to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend.
The woman said Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took a phone from her while she was on the ground.
According to a criminal complaint, the woman’s statement was corroborated by surveillance video from the camera system in the garage. That video hasn’t been released.
In a brief supporting the motion, the woman said she was seeking “to seal and restrict public disclosure of police and supplemental reports, dispatch and communications records, recordings, photographs, witness statements, investigative notes, forensic materials, medical or treatment-related information, digital evidence, and other documents or media.”
The brief indicated she wanted “only to prevent unnecessary public disclosure of information that identifies or locates (her), reveals intimate details of the victimization or creates a material risk of further harm to her.”
Jacobs was charged in late August and the NFL subsequently placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevents the three-time Pro Bowler from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck. Players on the commissioner’s exempt list are allowed at team facilities for meetings, individual workouts, therapy and rehabilitation and other non-football activities.
Jacobs could face a league suspension.
After pleading no contest to the battery charge, Jacobs was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine plus court costs. Under an agreement with prosecutors, the criminal damage charge can be dismissed in a year if he fulfills terms that include staying out of trouble, avoiding the victim, submitting to supervision, completing counseling and paying restitution to the victim.
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