Lack of criminal charges won't slow case, lawyer claims Brad Biggs
Tom Cable will not face charges in Napa, Calif., for the assault Randy Hanson alleged occurred in a training camp meeting room, but this story isn’t going to go away anytime real soon.
The attorney for Hanson, an ex-Oakland Raiders assistant coach, said that they will proceed with a civil case. Hanson would probably have the option to file suit against Cable and the organization, and McGuinn hinted of more bad news to come.
Appearing on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, the San Francisco-based McGuinn said everyone would soon find out Cable is “not a nice guy.” There have been rumors circulating for weeks that Hanson would move to produce details regarding Cable that would be harmful for the Raiders head coach and this would seem to be what McGuinn is hinting at here. But if it was anything that was at all related to the alleged attack, it would have already come to light. Now, Hanson could be engaged in a smear campaign against the man he holds responsible for ruining his dream job.
Cable scored a huge victory when Napa district attorney Gary Lieberstein said his office unanimously decided not to bring charges against Cable based in part by the many inconsistencies in Hanson’s story.
Hanson suffered a broken jaw, and according to Lieberstein officials determined that Cable rushed him in the room before being cut off. Cable bumped into secondary coach Lionel Washington who in turn bumped into Hanson, spilling him out of his chair at which point Lieberstein believes his jaw was injured. The Raiders assistants in the room did not support Hanson’s claim that Cable threatened to kill him at any point, and Lieberstein simply saw no way to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that an assault took place.
“Our duty is to do the right thing for the right reasons,” Lieberstein said. “Under the facts and circumstances of this case, it would be a miscarriage of justice to pursue criminal charges and we will not ask our citizens to give up their valuable time for jury duty, nor will we allow our criminal justice system to be compromised.
“Something happened but even (Hanson) doesn't know how it happened. I don't even think he has a good idea.’’
It’s not yet a closed matter with the NFL. Cable could still face disciplinary action from the league for violation of the personal conduct policy. Lieberstein said that at one point Cable was standing over Hanson holding him by his shirt collar. But he’s certainly far better off with commissioner Roger Goodell than he would have been if Lieberstein would have come at him with even misdemeanor battery charges.
“We will review the decision announced earlier today by the Napa District Attorney and the facts developed in the underlying investigation,” the NFL said in a statement. “Following that review, we will take appropriate action, if any, under our policies.”
Hanson had little to say about the matter to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports Thursday night. Not surprisingly, the lifelong Raiders fan compared it to a stinging moment in franchise history—Oakland’s loss to Denver in the 1977 AFC Championship Game when the Raiders recovered a fumble by Broncos running back Rob Lytle near the goalline only to have an inadvertent whistle nullify the turnover.
“The Raiders would’ve gone to the Super Bowl,” Hanson told Silver. “But they blew the whistle, and all (Oakland fans) could do was shake our heads.”
Oakland fans surely want this bizarre episode to go away. McGuinn and Hanson are not inclined to let that happen. We’ll see if McGuinn is posturing with a bunch of hot air when he loosely hints at details to come about Cable, or if he has something that would actually have any relevance to a civil suit.
“As we have said all along, whether he (Lieberstein) files or not, it makes no difference to us,’’ McGuinn told AOL Fanhouse. “We have our civil case and we will proceed accordingly.’’
The football team can now proceed accordingly, and that is the most important thing for the Raiders.
Follow me on Twitter: BradBiggs
Blaise, I understand your being skeptical but I don't buy the political pressure idea.
The Raiders training camp is closed to the public. Fans don't go to Napa to watch training camp, there is little economic benefit to Napa from the Raiders hosting their training camp there. It's Napa, they benefit off of the tourists coming to visit wine country. The Napa Mariott gets the money from the Raiders being there and I doubt they have much political pull.
Something obviously happened but we don't know how bad Hanson's jaw was hurt. Could have been a fracture. The guys jaw certainly didn't have to be wired shut. So maybe it could of happened from falling out of a chair.
Two other problems: All of the reports incriminated Cable before any facts came out, creating an understandably biased media and public. We only heard one side of the story. Also, this Hanson guy can't keep his own story straight and he is obviously a bit wacky. Comparing the DA's decision to Lytle's fumble???
Now you throw in the fact that he went into the police department and claimed that since the Raiders wouldn't give him what he wanted then he was going to fully cooperate. Sounds a bit fishy to me and I would guess that could hurt his civil case also.
and Silver had him tried, convicted and was ready to have him shot, with nothing other than this looney's say-so, will the cowardly yellow journalist retract his statements? Of course not, he works for Yahoo, the home of yellow journalism.
You hold onto that NFL is going to punish Cable Briggs lol.As I told you weeks ago what was going to go down with the DA let me give you a heads up what will happen with the NFL, nothing.
As for any lawsuit?, the DA pretty well took away any chance of Hanson winning one of them when he talked about Hanson at the press conference. From what I am hearing Cable may be filing his own lawsuit.
Love the way it went down, the DA is a media heartbreaker, many sad media Raider Hater types were hoping lol, Cables wins.
Smith’s status for Sunday’s game in London vs. the New England Patriots remains up in the air. If you’re looking for the rematch, the Bucs travel to Carolina on Dec
WR is vastly underpaid and has...
Taking a look at which position...
Steelers QB said he has heard...
Bengals linebacker has not yet...
Pittsburgh was an estimated $25...
Oct 23, 2009
08:57 AM
So his broken jaw was the result of a bad Three Stooges routine!?!?!? C'mon, this reader isn't buying into it; appears just a case where hard political pressure was put on the DA's office and he responded accordingly.