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And The Assault Charge Against Ray Rice Will Be Dropped

Why isn't Ray Rice in jail?

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In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video TMZ posted of Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back, repeatedly striking his then-girlfriend and now wife, Janay Palmer:

There will be a lot of talk this week about whether the NFL saw this video when they suspended Rice for only two games. And there will be a lot of talk about whether Rice can be subjected to NFL “double jeopardy” and face additional consequences for his actions.

Before that discussion, can we talk about the part where the judicial system most certainly did see this video before sentencing Ray Rice to… nothing? Screw NFL suspensions. How is Ray Rice not in JAIL?

I don’t care if Palmer was screaming “It was a Fantasy Team, Ray. A Fantasy Team, and you had it KILLED,” at Rice like she was in The Godfather. Rice clearly punches her twice.

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After the incident at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, Rice AND PALMER were arrested and charged with assault. That’s woman-hating problem number one with our society. A woman gets knocked the f**k out in a casino elevator, and she gets arrested.

Problem number two: the grand jury dropped the charges against Palmer and upped the charges against Rice, but Rice accepted a pretrial intervention program, and prosecutors agreed. So if Rice completes the year-long program, the charges against him will be dropped.

Dropped. Look at that video again. Michael Vick went to jail for 23 months for abusing dogs. I’m not defending Vick in any way, but surely punching the crap out of a black woman is at least as serious.

Don’t let the NFL’s leniency obscure the elephant in the room. The NFL can’t put Rice in jail, which is the only place he deserves to be right now. If our judicial system doesn’t take domestic violence seriously, is it any surprise that our sports leagues don’t?

Nothing about this video will change Rice’s legal standing. That’s because the justice system had already seen and processed this video when requiring Rice to go to talk therapy for a year. At least they dropped the charges against Palmer. I guess there’s no pretrial program for women who assault their boyfriend’s fists with their faces.

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UPDATE (2:30 p.m.): The Ravens have reportedly terminated the contract of Ray Rice.

Video: Ray Rice Knocks Out His Fiancée In An Elevator [Deadspin]

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