The Ravens' top execs, including Owner Steve Bisciotti, are "expected to speak at a news conference within a couple of days" to address an ESPN report alleging the team knew of the severity of Ray Rice's assault on his wife, but "still worked behind-the-scenes to get leniency" for Rice from the judicial system and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Ravens Senior VP/Public & Community Relations Kevin Byrne in a statement said the report contained "numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions, and perhaps misunderstandings" (Baltimore SUN, 9/21).
In the original report, ESPN found a "pattern of misinformation and misdirection" by the Ravens and the NFL. After the Rice incident, Bisciotti, Ravens President Dick Cass and GM Ozzie Newsome "began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency." The Ravens also "consulted frequently with Rice's attorney," who in April "obtained a copy of the inside-elevator video and told Cass: 'It's f---ing horrible.'" Cass "did not request a copy of the video." He instead "began urging Rice's legal team to get Rice accepted into a pretrial intervention program after being told some of the program's benefits," including how it "would keep the inside-elevator video from becoming public" (ESPN.com, 9/19).
