Last week, the NFL asked Vikings running back Adrian Peterson for a copy of the court file generated in connection with his prosecution in Texas. But the league may not be getting those documents for a while, if ever.
As mentioned on Sunday night’s edition of Football Night in America (and as I forgot to post after the show), the age of the victim means that extra levels of secrecy apply. Courts routinely protect minors; in Peterson’s case, the file has been sealed by the presiding judge because the victim was four years old.
So the file can’t be gotten by Peterson, the NFL, or anyone else -- including presumably TMZ. It’s unclear whether and to what extent this will affect the NFL’s review of Peterson’s situation under the personal conduct policy.