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Pacman's lawyers step up legal defense
Espn: Lawyers will fight any NFL punishment for Pacman
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Meet Adam Jones. A speedy cornerback and punt returner who can turn a game with one play and is filled with all the self-confidence anyone could need. Nicknames? Pacman -- and now poster boy for all that's wrong with the NFL.
"It sure feels that way," attorney Manny Arora said of his client.
The Titan's legal defense kicked into high gear Wednesday after Las Vegas police said they will seek three charges for Jones' role in a Las Vegas strip club fight Feb. 19. The immediate concern is what the NFL will do to the two-year pro.
And yes, his attorneys will fight league punishment for a man they say is working hard to grow up and learn from his mistakes.
"I think we'll see a better Adam. I just need to get him through this little storm here, and then we'll move on. The problem is the district attorney's probably going to want to arrest him because of the political pressure, and we have to work it out," Arora said.
Jones will have a meeting Tuesday with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explain for himself the 10 separate incidents in which the player has talked with police since the Titans made him the first defensive player drafted in April 2005.
He has been arrested five times with no convictions.
But the Las Vegas incident could complicate other cases: A plea agreement in a Tennessee case of public intoxication could be revoked and a Georgia case from February 2006 that is pending from Fayetteville police who say Jones interfered with them while dropping off his girlfriend at her parents' home.
A Nevada prosecutor expects to receive a report from Las Vegas police by Monday and will decide if charges should be filed. Police want Jones charged with a felony count of coercion and misdemeanor counts of battery and threat. A decision on charges could take up to 10 days.
"It won't go at the bottom of the stack. It certainly won't be on the top of the stack either," Clark County district attorney David Roger said.
The resulting publicity, especially the strip club fight that police say Jones incited around 5 a.m., has fans calling for the Titans to release him and the NFL to throw him out of the league.
Numerous NFL players have been arrested over the past two years. But it's Jones whose photo has been splashed repeatedly over the past few weeks whenever talk turns to the commissioner stiffening the league's personal conduct policy.
Arora said Jones has put himself in positions where he may have earned the title as the poster boy.
"A lot of places you go -- night clubs, strip clubs at 5 in the morning -- I'm thinking unsavory people are going to be there. Do you want to be in that position? That answer should be no," Arora said.
The attorney said the high school honors student who had an 1150 on his SAT is changing his life. He is tapping NFL veterans for advice, forcing his old friends to either clean up their acts or leave. He is concentrating on his family, his 1-year-old daughter and her mother, who is finishing college.
"If a shooting isn't a wakeup call, then nothing will be," Arora said.
Jones was raised by his mother, Deborah, and his grandmother after his father was killed when he was 6. His mother declined to talk to The Associated Press on Wednesday when contacted at her Georgia home but has said her son had to be tough growing up in Atlanta's housing projects.
He left West Virginia after his junior year and was only 21 when the Titans gave him millions of dollars as the sixth overall pick. But Jones started talking to police within a few days of being drafted.
Jones' attorneys spent Wednesday talking on radio and in interviews in Nashville asking for patience, defending a client who has become an easy target. Jones has been told not to speak publicly until his legal problems are cleared up.
Arora wants to see the evidence Las Vegas police have. Police said Monday that they are working their investigation from the fight inside the club out to the shooting that left one man paralyzed.
"Based on the timetable, the NFL issue is what we have to deal with right now, then we have to deal with Las Vegas, which is obviously much more serious than any NFL policy because there's a potential jail sentence down the road if it does get that far," Arora said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Espn: Lawyers will fight any NFL punishment for Pacman
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Meet Adam Jones. A speedy cornerback and punt returner who can turn a game with one play and is filled with all the self-confidence anyone could need. Nicknames? Pacman -- and now poster boy for all that's wrong with the NFL.
"It sure feels that way," attorney Manny Arora said of his client.
The Titan's legal defense kicked into high gear Wednesday after Las Vegas police said they will seek three charges for Jones' role in a Las Vegas strip club fight Feb. 19. The immediate concern is what the NFL will do to the two-year pro.
And yes, his attorneys will fight league punishment for a man they say is working hard to grow up and learn from his mistakes.
"I think we'll see a better Adam. I just need to get him through this little storm here, and then we'll move on. The problem is the district attorney's probably going to want to arrest him because of the political pressure, and we have to work it out," Arora said.
Jones will have a meeting Tuesday with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explain for himself the 10 separate incidents in which the player has talked with police since the Titans made him the first defensive player drafted in April 2005.
He has been arrested five times with no convictions.
But the Las Vegas incident could complicate other cases: A plea agreement in a Tennessee case of public intoxication could be revoked and a Georgia case from February 2006 that is pending from Fayetteville police who say Jones interfered with them while dropping off his girlfriend at her parents' home.
A Nevada prosecutor expects to receive a report from Las Vegas police by Monday and will decide if charges should be filed. Police want Jones charged with a felony count of coercion and misdemeanor counts of battery and threat. A decision on charges could take up to 10 days.
"It won't go at the bottom of the stack. It certainly won't be on the top of the stack either," Clark County district attorney David Roger said.
The resulting publicity, especially the strip club fight that police say Jones incited around 5 a.m., has fans calling for the Titans to release him and the NFL to throw him out of the league.
Numerous NFL players have been arrested over the past two years. But it's Jones whose photo has been splashed repeatedly over the past few weeks whenever talk turns to the commissioner stiffening the league's personal conduct policy.
Arora said Jones has put himself in positions where he may have earned the title as the poster boy.
"A lot of places you go -- night clubs, strip clubs at 5 in the morning -- I'm thinking unsavory people are going to be there. Do you want to be in that position? That answer should be no," Arora said.
The attorney said the high school honors student who had an 1150 on his SAT is changing his life. He is tapping NFL veterans for advice, forcing his old friends to either clean up their acts or leave. He is concentrating on his family, his 1-year-old daughter and her mother, who is finishing college.
"If a shooting isn't a wakeup call, then nothing will be," Arora said.
Jones was raised by his mother, Deborah, and his grandmother after his father was killed when he was 6. His mother declined to talk to The Associated Press on Wednesday when contacted at her Georgia home but has said her son had to be tough growing up in Atlanta's housing projects.
He left West Virginia after his junior year and was only 21 when the Titans gave him millions of dollars as the sixth overall pick. But Jones started talking to police within a few days of being drafted.
Jones' attorneys spent Wednesday talking on radio and in interviews in Nashville asking for patience, defending a client who has become an easy target. Jones has been told not to speak publicly until his legal problems are cleared up.
Arora wants to see the evidence Las Vegas police have. Police said Monday that they are working their investigation from the fight inside the club out to the shooting that left one man paralyzed.
"Based on the timetable, the NFL issue is what we have to deal with right now, then we have to deal with Las Vegas, which is obviously much more serious than any NFL policy because there's a potential jail sentence down the road if it does get that far," Arora said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
