“Evidence of other allegations against Watson cannot be shown to the Jury”: Deshaun Watson faces 24 trials but can win all of them due to this loophole
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Deshaun Watson
The NFL has officially concluded its investigation into Deshaun Watson, he faces a suspension of up to an entire year. However, this does not mean that it is the end of all the troubles for him. The quarterback was held not guilty by two juries in Texas but now he faces 24 lawsuits against him, all of civil nature with demand for compensation. He cannot evade these but has to fight them all and the length of each trial is a major question, Can any evidence from the other claims made against Deshaun will be admissible in each trial?
The quarterback’s attorney, Rusty Hardin recently appeared on Sports Radio 610 in Houston, he spoke about the status of the trial and answered this question as well. The first trial that will deal with the claims made by Ashley Solis is likely to happen between mid-July and the beginning of training camp. Both parties have agreed to not hold any trials between August 1st and March 1st.
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“If he’s accused of doing it in all other cases, he must have done it here”: Evidence from other trials could lead to bias
Rusty Hardin stated on the podcast, “We’ll do Solis if you will agree that you’re going not to try to introduce the evidence of the other 21 in this trial and let the allegations and the evidence stand alone on this one case,” Hardin said with respect to communications with Tony Buzbee. “Because if you’re going to try to get all these other cases into poison the water and the judge rules that you can, there’s no way these cases will not take several months to try… You would have like 21 mini-trials,” Hardin said.
Buzbee would not agree to that, a ruling from the trial judge in each case will be necessary as to whether evidence of other allegations can be introduced in any, some, or all of the cases as per reports. It is an issue arising out of Rule 404(b) of the various rules of evidence, federal or state. As per Rule 404(b) generally the evidence of any other crime is prohibited, “of any other crime, wrong, or act… to prove a person’s character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.” The evidence of other allegations that exist against Deshaun cannot be used for the purposes of arguing with the jury. “If he’s accused of doing it in all other cases, he must have done it here.”
There also exists an exception to this rule, “This evidence may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident.” This is the perfect spot for Tony Buzbee, he’ll argue that he’s using the other claims in an effort to get the jury to think that, for example, 24 people cannot all be wrong or lying or conspiring but all of these claims will be around the quarterbacks motive, his intent, preparation, existence or non-existence of the lack of accident.
The first instinct of Tony Buzbee will be to prove that Deshaun arranged massages with multiple women for the sole reason that they will become sexual in nature and the plan to try and make that happen through his words and actions during the massages. Hardin’s best practical argument against 404(b) is the threat/promise of the 21 mini-trials, no judge wants to preside over a case that gets out of control, with multiple other plaintiffs testifying and being cross-examined and a one-week trial literally requiring, as Hardin said, several months.
If Watson ultimately confesses that he arranged massages with the intent and hope of them becoming sexual, the fact that he allegedly crossed the line with all other accusers becomes less relevant. If, however, Watson attempts to say that he had no desire or plan to secure any sexual activity under the name of a massage would lead to the idea of the incident being dubbed an accident. Tony Buzbee will have to end up proving that these accidents occurred numerous times and will have to hint that this was a pattern of behavior.
Even though Rusty Hardin will not be testifying at trial, he will need to put his cards on the table, will the quarterback admit that he was hoping the massages would turn sexual in nature and that he actively attempted to make it happen, or will Watson insist that he did nothing of that nature? This along with other strategies will actively deal with the fact if Rule 404 (b) evidence is allowed at one or more of the 24 trials. Another fact that has a role here would be the ruling in the first of 24 cases can possibly be appealed and this could lead to the judges in the cases putting all the remainder of the cases on hold until a conclusive answer is reached. This would lead to the litigation being sealed by months in the best case and years in the worst case.
Deshaun should have settled all of these cases when he had the chance last April, trials take a long time and a lot of resources and there is always a loser in those matters. A settlement would have resulted in both parties being able to move on.
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Sumedh Joshi
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