Travis Tormey Discusses Ray Rice Plea Agreement on The Dom Giordano Program
Managing Partner Travis J. Tormey, of the the Tormey Law Firm, recently spoke with Philadelphia talk show host Dom Giordano to discuss former NFL player Ray Rice’s plea agreement with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, which followed Rice’s indictment on aggravated assault charges.
Specifically, the negotiated agreement reached by the parties calls for Rice’s enrollment in the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, as well as his attendance of anger management classes.
With many members of the public and the media questioning why Rice was not sentenced to serve any jail time as punishment, Mr. Tormey explained that cases like these are often resolved in a similar fashion, and that Rice received the same treatment that any other first-time offender would receive in the same situation. According to Tormey:
“It’s a third-degree aggravated assault; he’s facing three to five years in New Jersey State Prison, but there’s a presumption of non-incarceration for first-time offenders. So that means even if he were convicted, let’s say they bounced him from PTI, they said ‘no, we’re not going to give you that, we’re going to take you to trial over her [the victim’s] objections, they try the case, and they win, best case scenario: the judge is going to give him probation anyway. The only difference is that he would have a felony on his record.”
Questioned as to whether the release of a video tape that allegedly shows Rice punching his fiancé would have altered the outcome of the case, Tormey said, “The tape does change things because even without her, as long as they have a custodian of record from the casino come in, they could corroborate the tape and they, technically, could continue to press the charges against him.”
However, Mr. Tormey found it unlikely that the tape would have actually affected the outcome in this case, saying “In my career, I’ve almost never seen the State pursue charges over the wishes of a victim.”
For more details, access the following article: Attorney On Ray Rice Video: ‘The Tape Does Change Things, They Could Press Charges Without Her’
