Rashee Rice has resolved his criminal and civil matters; Let's summarize what we know

A lot of people had questions, so let's walk through what the resolutions of Rice's cases involve.

Normally, I’m not really a “breaking news” sort, but obviously this is a pretty important development.

Rashee Rice, per multiple reports, has resolved both his criminal and civil matters related to his reckless driving/street racing crash from last Easter Weekend.

I’ve talked at length about this being a situation before (focusing on how we can simultaneously talk about what a foolish/selfish/reckless thing it was to do while also acknowledging the football side and the “people in their early 20’s are morons, not awful humans” side of it, all while keeping the victims in mind), so I don’t feel the need to relitigate the moral aspects of this. I’m glad no one died or was hurt in a devastating way, and I’m glad the victims are being made whole.

Today, I assume that most of you are interested in knowing what exactly has happened and the legal implications of it (as well as the potential NFL suspension implications). Given that I happen to be a prosecuting attorney (albeit in a different jurisdiction), I thought it would be useful to go through the information we have here.

What I plan on doing is sharing everything that’s been reported (including a release from the prosecutor and the order in his civil case), then try to work through what it means.

This will be a LOT of info/pics/links to start off, but the goal is that you see everything there is to know right now all in one place, rather than trying to track it piecemeal. Here’s the initial Schefter report that started things off.

Added to that reporting have been several other pieces of information, including this article and multiple tweets that have discussed a statement released by Rice’s attorney, Royce West. But the most useful documents are the press release from the prosecutor’s office (with regards to the criminal matter) and the court order in the civil matter. Here’s the release from the prosecutor’s office, which does include Rice’s statement, courtesy of Ian Rapoport:

So that walks us through the “what” of the criminal matter. It’s also been reported that this resolution has been simultaneous (which happens at times) with his civil matters all being resolved:

And here is court order resolving at least one of his civil matters, courtesy of Nick Bromberg, who did a nice job tracking the order down.

I might as well include that NFL’s PR has made clear they’re monitoring the situation, and that Matt Derrick has reported that the Chiefs expect a suspension to come that will be something between 2-4 games.

As I write this at 12:21 PM, that’s what we know. If the NFL hands down a suspension, I’ll update this piece to include that here.

But now that we’ve gotten the information all in one place, I’ll try to answer the questions that many of you have asked me.

To be clear, what’s about to follow is not legal advice. I prosecute in Minnesota, which has different rules/procedures than Texas, so this is based off my decade in criminal law and experience HERE, and is not to be taken as 100% gospel in any specific case anywhere else. Rather, it’s more an attempt to explain how these things generally work based on the information that we have available.

The Criminal Resolution

The plea agreement (which is what happened here, with Rice pleading guilty rather than taking the matter to trial), per the reporting and the release from the prosecutor’s office, is as follows:

Rice pled to 2 felony counts: Collision involving Serious Bodily Injury, and Racing on the Highway Causing Bodily Injury. However, Rice was sentenced to 5 years deferred probation, with a number of conditions (not all of them listed) that include 30 days probationary jail time and restitution for out of pocket expenses for the victims in the amount of about $115,000 dollars.

It’s worth noting the prosecutor made clear that Rice paid out that restitution to the victims PRIOR to this plea going through. That is a pretty common practice in cases I’ve worked that involve significant restitution. If the defendant is able to make the victims “whole” prior to the plea as part of an agreement, they’re generally going to be given a more lenient sentence. The reason for this is that the primary goal is to get the victims whole as quickly as possible (rather than waiting through extensive litigation processes).

It’s worth noting that the use of the term “deferred probation” is one that is slightly different from what we use in Minnesota. Based on Schefter’s reporting that the matter “will” be dismissed after 5 years if Rice successfully completes probation. I’ve had a lot of people ask me about that.

Based on what I’ve seen reported, this is analogous to what is called a “stay of adjudication” here in Minnesota. What that means is that the defendant does plead guilty to the charge (thus waiving their 5th amendment right to silence and admitting that they did indeed commit the crime), but rather than being immediately “adjudicated” (just a fancy word for convicted) of the crime, that adjudication is “stayed” or held over their head for a probationary period (in this case, 5 years), during which time the defendant is placed on various conditions.

If a defendant follows those probationary conditions, then at the end of the probationary period the matter gets dismissed. If he does NOT, then a probation violation is filed. And here’s where it’s crucial… because the defendant has already pled guilty to the charges, that means if he violates probation that conviction would potentially drop on his head, and then he’d be re-sentenced for the felonies that he’s previously pled guilty to.

In other words, this is a "if you do exactly what you are supposed to do for 5 years, you’ll get a huge break, but if you don’t, we will hammer you” kind of deal. Because he’s pleading guilty, anything would be on the table if he violated probation, including executing a prison sentence. I have handed out a lot of stays of adjudication (usually for first-time offenders) over the years, and I always make a record during the sentencing hearing (because yes, this is a form of sentencing) that if they violate probation, because they’ve gotten such a break on the front end I will be very, very harsh on the back end. I’ve had stays of adjudication end with dismissals, and I’ve had them end with the court sending people to prison for lengthy time periods.

Basically, it’s in Rice’s hands now how it all goes from here. I would note that he’s also been sentenced to sit 30 days in jail (also a common thing in stays of adjudication in felony matters, in order to have a more tangible immediate consequence). The term “probationary jail time” may be confusing, but it just means the 30 days are one of his conditions he needs to fulfill.

Based on my search, Texas is not a “good time” state in which you automatically get time knocked off, so it’ll likely be the full 30 days. Whether he will be allowed to stagger that time out (sitting a week at a time, etc) is not made clear. In Minnesota, generally speaking that is not allowed without specific order of the court at sentencing. So we just don’t know.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me if this is Rice getting a significant break. In a sense, it is. But “significant” and “unusual” are not the same thing. In Minnesota at least, this is not an uncommon type of resolution for a first-time offender whose actions (reckless driving, street racing) weren’t malicious… just really, really stupid and, well, reckless. This sort of deal is one that I’ve seen handed out for various offenses both more and less serious than what he did, and the fact that the prosecutor’s office insisted on some jail time along with the restitution coming up front demonstrates that they wanted it to be clear that he’s not getting off without some punitive measures (in other words, it’s not just paying out money and following probationary rules). I’d also note that the prosecutor specifically mentioned Rice taking accountability, something that is ALWAYS going to be a factor in how a prosecutor handles things.

So from my perspective, this is a deal that reflects pretty well the nature of what occurred (with a focus on making the victims whole), giving a very young man a chance to earn his way back into the law’s good graces while also having a hammer on the back end if he does not choose the straight and narrow from here on out. It’s an offer I would have made. I can also tell you that, generally speaking, stays of adjudication aren’t done without the approval of victims (and given the civil suit settled simultaneously to this plea, there’s a good bet that’s the case here).

So hopefully that answers the questions you have about the criminal side.

The Civil Resolution

You’re best off just reading the order itself (again, see above), as it’s pretty short and generally clear about what is occurring.

The short story, though, is that the parties have reached a stipulated agreement in which Rice will pay a million bucks, plus fees, to the other party or parties. The common term you’d hear on TV (and an accurate one) is that this is a “settlement” agreement. Rather than having a trial and the judge decide whether Rice should pay damages and how much, the parties came to an agreement, and the judge approved it.

Based on the reporting we have, all of the civil cases are resolved. Whether or not this civil settlement covers them all, or if it’s just the one, I have zero idea. Rice could, in theory, have a similar settlement agreement with a few other victims. All we know is that they’re reportedly resolved, which is a good thing in terms of bringing closure to this chapter. I hope the victims are made whole by this and then some, and Rice learns a wildly valuable lesson about not being stupid in a way that can affect other peoples’ lives.

So… Now What?

I hope that all this was helpful in sifting through the vast amount of information that’s out on Rice’s cases right now. He is saying all the right things in terms of learning a lesson, so hopefully that sticks. It’s always my hope when I see young, first-time defendants that they figure it out and I never see them again.

In terms of football, all the Chiefs and Rice can do now is wait. The Shield is certainly going to suspend him, we just don’t know for how long. There are various cases that set the sort of precedent that leads to the 2-4 game estimate the Chiefs are hoping for, but other factors (the Chiefs being such a focal point of the league, the publicity this all got) could mess with that. The Chiefs’ schedule is murderous early on, so starting the season without him (I assume it’ll come early and we’ll know before long) will be tough. But it’s doable.

Hopefully now the victims, Rice, and the football world can move on from an ugly incident that thankfully wasn’t a lot worse. And hopefully you found this helpful. We’ll return to our regular conversations about ball tomorrow.

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