Sports In the Courts Blog : New York Attorneys & Lawyers Specializing in Sports Law & Legal Analysis

As admitted by legendary basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, he should not have called Bobby Davis and Michael Lang “liars” and “out for the money and nothing else.” Boeheim has now recanted these statements and apologized.

Both Davis and Lang claim that they were sexually abused, as children years ago, by now fired Syracuse Assistant Coach Bernie Fine. These allegations cannot be locally prosecuted as the statute of limitations has run but they are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.

In response to Boeheim’s comments, Davis and Lang, through celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, commenced a lawsuit against Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim for damages on a claim of defamation. Now, normally calling someone a liar can be construed as an attack on a person’s reputation. However, in the case, the plaintiffs’ are claiming that the words used by Boeheim are much worse because of the speaker is in the Syracuse community.

Davis and Lang argue that they were damaged by being verbally attacked by Boeheim who is more than prominent and powerful figure in Syracuse. They noted that Boeheim has “star status” in Syracuse and because he is “elite.”

In sum, Davis and Lang are alleging that not only the words uttered by Boeheim were damaging to their reputations but this offense has been compounded by the star-like status of a very powerful speaker. 

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Today, before the national media, Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney told the world that his client was innocent and he was going to "fight like hell." So why didn't they?

Instead of going through with a preliminary hearing on whether the prosecution had probable cause to charge Sandusky with the crimes in the indictment, the defense waived the hearing and decided to proceed directly to trial. In the news conference that Attorney Joseph Amadola appeared to be enjoying, he stated that the hearing was waived because the defense could not fully attack a witnesses credibility in this type of limited hearing. Amadola also said that the defense waived the hearing for public relations reasons of not having these horrible allegations repeated, on a national stage, against Sandusky.

Well, "public relations" concerns are not a very sound defense strategy. In cases that hinge on the credibility of witnesses (especially from years back), a defense attorney wants as much testimony as possible. The defense attorney wants the prosecution's witnesses to tell their stories, on the record, over and over again. Remember, no one tells a story the exact same way twice. If Sandusky has a chance for an acquittal, his defense team needs to exploit inconsistencies in critical witnesses' accounts. A good defense attorney will use these inconsistencies, however minor or benign, to create reasonable doubt in the minds of a juror.

Yet, today, the defense bypassed this golden opportunity to get more inconsistent statements on the record. Forget about "winning" the preliminary hearing, the object of the game is to build an arsenal for the defense at trial. Since the defense gave this up, is the real truth about the strategy something else?

We heard a relieved prosecutor state that he was pleased that the complainants were not "re-victimized" today. In my experience as a prosecutor, this suggests that the defense wants (or may want) something in return. The eventual trade off here may be a more favorable plea deal for Sandusky.
 

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Today, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Linda Kelly, announced that Jerry Sandusky would be facing additional charges in the continuing child sex abuse scandal. In the latest indictment, Sandusky has been charged with four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first degree felony, and two counts of unlawful contact with a minor. The new allegations pertain to two new alleged victims who were minors at the time of the alleged encounters. The two minors, known by their alias as Victims 9 and 10, both encountered Sandusky through his work at the Second Mile foundation, which he began. According to Ms. Kelly's statement, Victim 9 was between 11 and 12 years old when he met Sandusky around 2004. It is alleged that Sandusky provided Victim 9 with gifts and money and took him to Penn State football games. Also, according to the AG's statement, Sandusky allegedly met Victim 10 in 1997 after a counselor recommended that Victim 10 attend the charity "because of difficulties in his home life." In total, Sandusky is alleged to have victimized 10 boys over the course of 15 years. According to Kelly. the additional charges filed today "were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, based on evidence and testimony that was received following the initial arrest of Sandusky on November 5th." Sandusky, who continues to maintain his innocence and his taken to the public airwaves to share some of his story, most notably an interview on "Rock Center with Brian Williams" will have a preliminary hearing with respect to these charges on December 13, 2011.

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A burger joint with a creative marketing strategy now finds itself a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the Oakland Raiders in a California federal court. Nation's FoodService Inc., which does business as "Nation's Giant Hamburgers," purchased billboard space right outside of the Oracle Arena (where the Raiders play) to advertise its hamburgers.  The advertisement has a cheeseburger popping through a black and silver background (Raiders colors), and reads, 

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