Has K-Rod Lost All Control?
The Mets’ closer, Francisco Rodriquez, has put himself into a real jam.
Today, K-Rod was charged with committing criminal contempt (another misdemeanor charge) for violating the order of protection, issued by the court, in favor of his girlfriend. Apparently K-Rod sent her 56 text messages trying to explain his violent actions and also expressing his love.
After K-Rod’s court appearance, in Queens, NY, his lawyer, Christopher Booth, explained that K-Rod violated the court’s order because he doesn’t understand the US justice system and was an “unsophisticated” person.
Well, there are a couple of problems with that excuse. First, when an order of protection is issued, the judge explains the conditions (i.e. no contact) to the defendant. At that point, the defendant must acknowledge (which can be through his lawyer) that he understands the meaning of the order and will comply with it. Second, the order of protection itself sets out the conduct that K-Rod cannot engage in with respect to his girlfriend. Finally, K-Rod is a major league baseball player who has an expensive lawyer representing him in this criminal case. If his lawyer believes that his client still doesn’t get it, he must re-explain all the terms and conditions of the order of protection so there can be no mistake.
K-Rod’s problem now is that criminal contempt charges are easy to prove. What exactly will be his defense to sending these text messages? I didn’t understand? As mentioned above, that’s a loser. Or maybe, I lost my phone? Good luck.
Judges are usually not too pleased when their orders are violated by a criminal defendant. We have written before that most misdemeanor cases usually do not result in any jail time, especially when a defendant is out on bail. However, if K-Rod keeps adding more and more charges to his rap sheet, next season he may find himself closing at Riker’s Island.
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.