Under the league’s new Personal Conduct Policy, the NFL doesn’t delay or otherwise defer to the criminal justice system when a player is arrested. That same standard was applied to Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer.
“We begin an investigation as soon as we become aware of an incident,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT in response to an inquiry regarding Kromer.
McCarthy didn’t address a question regarding whether Kromer will be placed paid leave. For that, the only guidance comes from the new policy, which explains that an arrest alone isn’t enough to trigger paid leave. Formal criminal charges will trigger paid leave, with charges coming “in the form of an indictment by a grand jury, the filing of charges by a prosecutor, or an arraignment in a criminal court.”
Also, the preliminary investigation could result in a finding that the employee should be placed on paid leave, if the Commissioner concludes that a crime of violence occurred.
In theory, the Commissioner could determine that a crime of violence occurred without a prosecutor deciding to file formal charges. Prosecutors routinely make that decision not based on whether they thing the suspect is factually guilty but on whether they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect is legally guilty.
If the NFL places and employee on paid leave pending the resolution of the criminal case and no charges are filed, the employee would remain on paid leave until the Commissioner decides whether the employee committed the act based on the reduced preponderance of the evidence standard -- the notorious “more likely than not” language from the Ted Wells report.
As to Kromer, for example, a prosecutor could decide that Kromer’s version sufficiently muddies the water to prevent a jury from convicting him. But the Commissioner, under a 51-49 standard of proof, can determine Kromer did it, punishing Kromer even if the charges are dropped.
That’s ultimately what happened with Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy. The charges were dropped when Nicole Holder failed to show up for the jury trial after reaching a civil settlement with Hardy. Before Ray Rice, that may have been the end of things. After Ray Rice, a case in which the prosecutor allowed Rice to enter a diversion case despite clear evidence of a brutal knockout blow, the NFL no longer moves in lockstep with law enforcement.
