NFL Capsules: Steelers QB attorney: 'No sexual assault occurred'
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A high-profile defense attorney hired by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Monday disputed a college student's claim that the two-time Super Bowl winner sexually assaulted her at a Georgia nightclub.
The 20-year-old told police Roethlisberger, who had been out barhopping with friends, assaulted her early Friday. Roethlisberger has not been charged.
"The facts show that there was no criminal activity. No sexual assault occurred," attorney Ed Garland said in a statement Monday. "Ben is completely innocent of any crime."
Milledgeville police said at a press conference that they expect to interview Roethlisberger in the next several days. They said they have not taken a DNA sample from him but probably will.
Authorities also said the woman has hired an attorney, though they would not identify him or her. The woman's name has not been released.
They expect to interview about eight people and said they are reviewing video footage obtained from several businesses. They declined to elaborate.
"The investigation is ongoing. It would be premature to make any announcement at this time," said Fred Bright, district attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit. "When the facts are in and a decision is made, we will let you know."
Roethlisberger, who owns a home about 30 miles north of Milledgeville on Lake Oconee, is also being sued by a woman who claims he raped her in 2008 at a hotel-casino in Lake Tahoe hotel and casino, an allegation he strongly denies.
Steelers President Art Rooney II said in a statement Monday that the team is closely monitoring the Milledgeville situation.
"All of us in the Steelers family are concerned about the recent incident involving Ben Roethlisberger in Georgia," the statement said. "We cannot comment on any of the specifics until law enforcement's investigation is concluded."
Garland, Roethlisberger's new attorney, previously represented rapper T.I. on a federal weapons charge and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis in a murder case. More serious charges against Lewis were dropped and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor obstruction of justice charge.
Trial opens in Vikes' challenge of NFL drug policy
MINNEAPOLIS — The attorney for two Minnesota Vikings challenging the NFL's anti-doping policy opened their closely watched trial Monday by accusing the league of failing to follow state law when it tested them for drugs two years ago and then decided to suspend them.
The attorney, Peter Ginsberg, also said the NFL is at least a partial employer of defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams. Just who employs the two players when it comes to drug testing is considered a key issue in their lawsuit against the NFL.
"The NFL controls everything about this league," Ginsberg told the judge.
NFL attorney Dan Nash countered that the league complied with all Minnesota laws in suspending the Williamses, a decision that was later put on hold pending the legal fight. And Nash argued that the NFL's drug testing rules are a product of collective bargaining with the players' union.
"The Vikings don't control drug testing, but neither does the NFL," Nash said.
The first day of the trial ended without either player taking the stand and it wasn't clear whether they would do so during a scheduled half-day of testimony Tuesday. The trial is expected to last about a week.
The players tested positive during training camp in 2008 for the banned substance bumetanide, which can mask the presence of steroids. The players, who are not accused of taking steroids, acknowledged taking the over-the-counter weight loss supplement StarCaps the night before a weigh-in so they could meet their weight targets and earn $400,000 bonuses.
Their attorney said NFL officials knew StarCaps contained bumetanide — even though it was not listed as an ingredient on the label — and did not specifically notify the players or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Williamses, who are not related, contend the NFL is their employer and had to comply with Minnesota law requiring notice of a positive drug test within three business days.
The NFL maintains that it properly administered its anti-drug policy, and Nash disputed that the NFL missed the three-day notice requirement. That claim "is not even close to accurate," Nash said.
Nash successfully objected to several lines of questioning from Ginsberg, including one that dealt with alleged inconsistencies in now the NFL has run its anti-doping program. Nash argued that the questions had already been settled by a federal judge, and Hennepin County Judge Gary Larson agreed.
The trial is expected to settle a number of labor issues, including the question of who employs the players — the NFL, the Vikings, or both — when it comes to drug testing. A state judge has already said that if the NFL employs the players, even partially, then the league has to follow Minnesota labor law.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has called the players' lawsuit a "state law end-around that can undermine all anti-doping policies in sports." Other sports leagues, including Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL, filed court papers backing the NFL, saying the case could affect their ability to enforce their own rules against steroids and other drugs.
The Williamses played last season while challenging the NFL's plan to suspend them for four games each. They are seeking unspecified damages.
New Orleans Saints players Charles Grant and Will Smith also tested positive for bumetanide but were allowed to play last season, which ended with the Saints winning the Super Bowl after earlier beating the Vikings in the playoffs.
Also to be decided at trial is whether the NFL violated a state confidentiality law. The media learned about the test results before the Williamses or their attorneys, but the league has said there's no evidence that it leaked the results.
Ginsberg said the NFL did "absolutely nothing to investigate" the leak of the Williams' failed tests, and said he knew why. "The NFL knew that the leak came from the NFL," he said.
Nash dismissed that claim.
"I didn't hear any evidence that anyone at the NFL unlawfully disclosed the test results," Nash said.
-- Jeff Baenen
Championship video means another party in Big Easy
NEW ORLEANS — One month after the New Orleans Saints' first Super Bowl championship, the team and city were holding yet another party.
It took 43 years for the Saints to win their first title, and four weeks for NFL Films and Warner Home Video to complete a commemorative video recapping the best season in franchise history.
"The tears will be running out of my eyes for sure," Brees said as he walked the red carpet, a throng of fans screaming his name, at the video's premiere Monday night. "So much of it has been about reflecting back on the journey and the moments that I've tried to enjoy. ... That's what tonight is, too. It's a reflection on everything we've been through, especially this season, and the guys that you did it with, and obviously our fans, the Who Dat nation. We accomplished something really special and we did it together."
The video's official release was set for Tuesday, hours after the premiere at the 95-year-old Prytania Theater in New Orleans' historic Uptown neighborhood.
Along with Brees, the guest list included Tracy Porter, Will Smith, Darren Sharper, Deuce McAllister and others.
Porter said he'd enjoy reliving his late-game interceptions of Brett Favre in the NFC title game and of Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl, the second of which gave the Saints an insurmountable two-touchdown lead over the Indianapolis Colts late in the fourth quarter.
Having grown up in Louisiana, he said it was a thrill beyond his imagination to attend a premier for a championship video in which he stars.
"It was beyond me when I got drafted here," Porter said. "Not many guys get the opportunity to get drafted by their hometown team that they've been watching and supporting growing up, so that was a dream come true all on its own. But to be on the red carpet, to make two significant plays to help us get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl, and being a fan, I'm just in awe right now."
Sharper, currently a free agent, showed up on crutches because of recent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Having played with Green Bay in a Super Bowl — and lost — during his rookie season, he'd been waiting 13 years to get back and win.
"When you play in a game like that you want to try to visualize and absorb everything that goes on around you, but it's tough because you're also so focused and a lot of times you miss out," Sharper said.
Jeff Brown, a Warner Home Video executive vice president specializing in TV sports and animation, said orders from retailers were already 25 percent above expectations.
"We definitely find a correlation to the first time a team wins and sales, and our orders from retail partners are confirming that," Brown said.
The video covers the season game-by-game, with highlights from key plays and in-game audio from players and coaches.
Curious about what kind of gum Sean Payton was craving during the final minutes of the Super Bowl? Now you can hear it from the head coach himself.
Then there's Payton's well-chronicled exchange with Garrett Hartley moments before the young kicker made his field goal to send the Saints to their first Super Bowl.
"You just groove this thing," Payton says. "I don't want you thinking about anything but hitting that fleur-de-lis. Just hit your kick though, son. Here's why. You deserve to be here."
Linebacker Scott Fujita, who spent four season in New Orleans before signing as a free agent with the Cleveland Browns the day before the premiere, is prominently featured in clips from the Super Bowl.
In a segment from the first half, Fujita jokes with Colts quarterback Peyton Manning: "How about throwing us a few."
Manning grins and facetiously responds, "Yeah, OK," the exchange foreshadowing Porter's game-breaking interception later on.
In the fourth quarter, Fujita walks toward Manning and yells, "Peyton, I can eat Oreos faster than you," a mocking reference to one of Manning's many endorsement deals.
Fujita then turns to linebacker Scott Shanle and says, "I just told him the Oreo joke. I don't think he liked it."
Fujita had to be talked into wearing a microphone during the Super Bowl, "because I tend to say some really off-the-wall, outlandish things," the linebacker said Monday by phone from his home near Monterey, Calif.
"I'm glad I did it because it was hilarious," Fujita continued, adding that leaving the Saints won't lessen his enthusiasm for the video. "No matter what color I'm wearing, I'm always going to have this past season and all those experiences, not just of the 2009 year and the Super Bowl, but everything the last four years. Those are things we will carry forever."
The video frames the Saints' march to their first championship in the context of the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina, highlighting the uplifting role the franchise has played in the community since the storm struck in 2005.
"That's so appropriate," Brees said. "This city has fought through so much adversity as have our team and the guys who came here back in '06. ... We knew we had a long road ahead of us then, but we felt like all along, as long as we did things the right way and believed in one another, and leaned on one another, we could accomplish something great and be world champions — and so much of that, too, was the strength our city gave us."
As the credits role on the video, there are scenes from the Saints' championship parade back in New Orleans, accompanied by an instrumental version of the classic "When the Saints Go Marching In," the song for which the team was named.
-- Brett Martel
Jets decline comment on Cromartie paternity help
NEW YORK — Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum wouldn't comment directly Monday about reports the team is helping Antonio Cromartie with his paternity payments, but said they're working with him to "give him his best chance to be successful."
The NFL Network first reported Saturday that the Jets were advancing their newly acquired cornerback $500,000 to help clear up paternity issues.
The 25-year-old Cromartie has fathered seven children by six women in five states. He has a court date scheduled for later this month in California.
Cromartie, acquired last week from San Diego, is due to make $1.7 million in the last season of his five-year, $12 million contract. The Jets reportedly made $500,000 of the deal into a bonus, allowing Cromartie to receive it now, instead of when players receive game checks in September.
"We don't usually talk about those things," Tannenbaum told reporters. "All I would say is we're working with Antonio to give him his best chance to be successful. It's still the same one-year deal. I don't want to go into the specifics, but I think it's one of these situations where hopefully he can resolve some things and go into the offseason program and concentrate on being a Jet, learning the defense and hitting the ground running."
Gary Wichard, Cromartie's agent, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment.
"I made some wrong decisions in my first two years in the NFL and now I have to take on that responsibility of being a father to my kids," Cromartie said during a conference call Friday after the trade. "That's what I have to do."
Cromartie was considered one of the rising talents in the league in 2007, when he was an All-Pro in his second season after getting an NFL-leading 10 interceptions, but has struggled since — both on and off the field.
The Chargers dealt him to the Jets in exchange for a conditional third-round draft pick in 2011 that could become a second-rounder based on his production. Cromartie will team with All-Pro Darrelle Revis to potentially form one of the league's top cornerback tandems.
-- Dennis Waszak Jr.
McNabb, T.O. teaming up again - for TV show
PHILADELPHIA — Donovan McNabb will be throwing passes to Terrell Owens again.
McNabb and Owens are teaming up on a basketball court instead of a football field in the new season of Spike TV's "Pros vs. Joes." The episode features NFL players that played college basketball against former NBA stars.
McNabb (Syracuse), Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga) and Antonio Gates (Kent St.) will face Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith and Rick Fox.
T.O. helped McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2004, but a feud ended their relationship and Owens was cut midway through the '05 season.
Owens is a free agent after spending last year with Buffalo. He caught 55 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns in his only season with the Bills. Owens played three seasons with Dallas after he was released by Philadelphia.
McNabb has been the subject of trade rumors since the Eagles lost to the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. He's led Philadelphia to five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl in 11 seasons.
After the Eagles lost their third straight conference title game in 2003, McNabb lobbied hard to bring Owens to Philadelphia. The duo combined for an electrifying season. McNabb had a career year and Owens put up prolific numbers before he broke his ankle in late December. Owens returned to play in Philadelphia's loss to New England in the Super Bowl.
Shortly afterward, Owens demanded a new contract, criticized management and ripped McNabb. They've spoken a few times since and have seemingly patched up their differences.
-- Rob Maaddi
Elsewhere
Suspect in Williams slaying refuses to testify
DENVER — Gang threats against the life of a man accused of shooting and killing Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams were specific and credible enough that authorities changed security measures and advised attorneys to be aware for their safety, a defense attorney said.
The threats reported to Denver authorities last March detailed plans for vehicles full of "Crip gang members" armed with AK-47s with orders to make Willie Clark "Swiss cheese" if he said anything in court, Clark's attorney, Darren Cantor, said Monday in explaining why his client won't testify on his own behalf.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Timothy Twining told District Judge Christina Habas that the threats were made in a case unrelated to Williams' slaying. Clark and two other men face murder charges in the December 2006 slaying of a key witness who was scheduled to testify in another case.
"I actually wanted to (testify) because I have nothing to hide," Clark told Habas. "But, I mean, I can't protect my family so why would I put myself in that situation?"
Habas told Clark: "I respect your decision not to testify," later adding that Clark didn't bring up the threats when he refused to testify until hearing all defense witnesses.
The details of the threat were passed along to Clark's defense attorneys in a memo, which wasn't immediately available Monday. Denver Sheriff's Capt. Frank Gale said a sheriff's deputy was told of the threat while working security at a nightclub frequented by suspected gang members, and that was passed along to prosecutors.
Gale said security measures, which include two security screenings to get into the courtroom and a ban of cameras on an entire floor of the Denver courthouse, are unrelated to the alleged threat.
Outside of court, Denver district attorney's spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough dismissed Cantor's characterization of a credible threat and said no arrests or charges resulted from an ensuing investigation. "The sum total of all of this was a memo," Kimbrough said.
Clark's refusal to testify came on the 11th day of testimony in which witnesses have been jailed for refusing to testify, with some saying they're too afraid. During the trial, two jurors have also been excused by Habas for unspecified reasons, leaving four alternates on the panel. Closing arguments could be heard as early as Tuesday afternoon.
Williams was in a limousine with other football players when he was shot on New Year's Day 2007. They had just left a nightclub where prosecutors say Williams' group got into an altercation with a group that included Clark, a suspected gang member who goes by the street name "Little Let Loose," or "Little Let." The altercation started inside the nightclub when a member of the Broncos players' entourage sprayed champagne on revelers celebrating the New Year.
Earlier in the trial, a witness who said he was a passenger in a white SUV that Clark was allegedly driving identified Clark as the shooter. The witness, Daniel "Ponytail" Harris, is under federal protection and Clark's attorneys have questioned his motives, saying he has gotten multiple plea deals for his testimony.
Defense attorneys say another man fired the shots that killed Williams.
On Monday, a man who investigators say intercepted a jailhouse letter implicating Clark in the shooting agreed to testify after refusing to do so earlier. He testified that he found the letter stuffed in a law book in a library meant for a co-defendant in the other murder case Clark is facing.
In that case, Kalonniann Clark, who is not related to Willie Clark, had been scheduled to testify in a drug case in 2005 when she was shot outside a nightclub. She survived that attempt on her life and was scheduled to testify against her alleged attacker when she was killed a day before a pretrial hearing in December 2006. Clark and two others face charges in that case.
-- P. Solomon Banda
Wife of ex-Raven McCrary granted protective order
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore County judge has granted a temporary protective order to the wife of former Baltimore Raven Michael McCrary.
The retired defensive end did not appear at the hearing Monday in Baltimore County District Court. Mary Haley McCrary claims her husband threatened her and a nanny who cares for their young daughter.
Judge Jan Marshall Alexander ordered McCrary to stay away from the couple's home in Timonium, as well as a house in Vienna, Va.
McCrary's attorney Bonnie Butler said in a statement Monday night that the former player denies the allegations and will prove them false at a hearing next week.
