The criminal case against Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers has ended with an acquittal. The civil case will continue.
The attorney representing the accuser issued a statement after Friday’s verdict. It’s clear that the litigation has not ended.
“We applaud our client for her strength and courage in testifying about these traumatic events,” attorney David E. Gottlieb said. “A not guilty verdict does not mean Mr. Peppers is innocent; it only means the jury found that the charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest burden recognized under the law. We are confident that a civil trial will yield a very different outcome as it has done in many other cases.”
Peppers’s lawyer disagrees, as lawyers representing competing interests often do.
“I usually say, ‘My client was found not guilty,’” Marc Brofsky said, via the Associated Press. “But in this case I will say, ‘He was found innocent,’ given the state of the evidence, given how quickly the jury returned their verdict. They knew it was a joke.”
Peppers also sounded off about the outcome.
“In a lot of situations, a lot of guys settle because they don’t want the media show, they don’t want their name being dragged through the mud like that,” Peppers said. “But I’m the type of guy, I stand for what’s right. . . . I need to protect myself a little more. I encourage every man or woman who has something to lose, if you ever find yourself in a situation like I was in, you have to record it because that might be the only thing that saves you.”
Again, the civil case will proceed. The standard in such cases is preponderance of the evidence, another way of saying “more likely than not.”
Peppers also faces potential league discipline under the reduced standard of the Personal Conduct Policy. The league’s substance abuse policy might result in separate discipline, given that he admitted to cocaine possession before the two-day trial began.
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