Ravens running back Ray Rice finally spoke publicly about the February incident that led to aggravated assault charges against him. In a press conference, accompanied by his wife Janay Palmer (the alleged victim). While Rice did not directly address the alleged Atlantic City casino beating he did acknowledge the incident in a roundabout way.
In a six-minute speech that kind of meandered and repeated itself and without really admitting any wrongdoing Rice implied that the situation was an isolated incident completely out of character for him (via New York Daily News):
"I want you to know I'm still the Ray Rice that you know, or used to know, or grown to love... I'm still the same guy. As me and Janay wish we could take back 30 seconds of our life, we definitely sit here and tell you that we are better parents, we are better lovers and also better friends."
Also in the same press conference, inexplicably, Palmer apologized for her involvement in the situation.
Then Rice's attorney, Michael Diamondstein, totally dropped the PR ball with a game of "how many times can I put the word hypothetical into one statement?" (via CBS Sports):
"This is just a complete hypothetical. Let's assume for the sake of argument, rather than enter into the pretrial diversionary program that he entered into, we hypothetically move forward on the case. And hypothetically... the video shows... hypothetically speaking -- shows that Ray wasn't the first person that hit and Ray was getting repeatedly hit but just Ray hit harder, fired one back and hit harder. Hypothetically speaking, and he gets found not guilty. Is that result somehow better? Is it better for the public? Is it better for the Ravens? Is it better for Ray? Is it better for Janay?"
For the record there were more hypotheticals in the full unedited statement.
What do you think? Even if Rice was found innocent would it be worse for him publicly, as his attorney implied? Is there any excuse for Rice's behavior?
Tell us your thoughts in the comment field below.
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