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Closing Bell

Judge Quizzes Attorneys For Both Sides At Brady Suspension Hearing

Federal Court Judge Richard Berman today quizzed attorneys for the NFL and NFLPA for over an hour about Deflategate, spending the bulk of the time on the league. Berman said at the public hearing, which was sandwiched between private settlement talks, that he had not made up his mind about the issue. The NFL has asked him to affirm a four-game suspension of Tom Brady for his alleged role in taking air out of balls before the AFC Championship game. However, Berman spent a lot time questioning the evidence behind that conclusion.

He asked NFL outside counsel Daniel Nash repeatedly where the direct evidence was that Brady knew of deflation. Nash conceded there was no direct evidence. “Is there a text in which Mr. Brady instructs someone to put a needle in a football? No, there is not such direct evidence,” Nash said. Berman questioned whether the investigation that led to the suspension had been truly independent from the NFL. The NFL hired Ted Wells to conduct the investigation, and described his role as independent, but Berman suggested strongly that the relationship was more akin to attorney-client.

He did have questions for the NFLPA, though these only took around 20 minutes compared to 45 minutes for the NFL. He asked NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler why Brady destroyed his phone. Kessler conceded Brady should have cooperated better with investigators and turned over all electronic communication, but that he had relied on legal advice he received from his agent. Kessler introduced a new element to the phone story. It has been widely reported that Brady had his phone destroyed the day he met with Wells. Kessler said that Brady only received a new phone that day; the old phone could have been destroyed on another day.

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