Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - FOOTBALL STARS SACKED OFF-FIELD

Episode Date: February 6, 2021

Former Seattle Seahawks player Chad Wheeler has plead not guilty to domestic violence charges. He was arrested after his girlfriend called 911 saying she was being "killed." She told police Wheeler as...ked her to bow to him and when she didn't he grabbed her, threw her on a bed and beat her. He's not the first NFL player to have a violent brush with the law. Nancy Grace and her panel of experts explore some of the scandals.Joining Nancy Grace today: Troy Slaten - Criminal Defense Attorney, Los Angeles California, www.floydskerenlaw.com Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com  Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" Charles Robinson - Senior NFL Reporter, Yahoo! Sports, Specializing in NFL and Investigative reporting, Twitter: @CharlesRobinson  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's almost game day. The countdown is on for Super Bowl Sunday. The big game goes down in just hours. But wait a minute. What about all those football stars? So many of them have criminal histories. And the most recent football star that is in trouble is 27-year-old Chad Wheeler, location Seattle, Washington, claim that when his girlfriend would not bow down to him,
Starting point is 00:00:53 let me repeat, bow down to him, he beat the stew out of her. Is that the tip of the iceberg? Is that the tip of the iceberg? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. With me, an all-star panel to try to apply logic to an illogical situation of somebody bringing in millions of dollars, healthy, fit, young, the world in front of him, but choosing to allegedly commit a violent crime. With me, renowned criminal defense attorney, joining me out of LA, Troy Slayton at FloydScarronLaw.com, Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist, joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood
Starting point is 00:01:53 Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of a brand new hit series on the True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons, Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator, and special guest joining us for the first time, Let the Hazing Begin, on Charles Robinson. This guy, senior NFL reporter. He specializes in the NFL investigative reporting. He's a co-host on Yahoo Sports NFL Podcaster. At Twitter, he's at Charles Robinson. That is a mouthful, and I'm sure there's more.
Starting point is 00:02:28 But, Charles, before I go on and on about all of your impressive credentials, what happened with Chad Wheeler? Well, it's a mess for the NFL. I mean, to put it short, on Friday. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, Charles. This is not really like a telecast that you would normally do. This is like four or five very angry family members who disagree on everything. Forget religion and politics. I mean everything. I say what happened and you say it's a mess for the NFL. that took a booty-beating extraordinaire because she would not bow down, allegedly, to Chad Wheeler. Wouldn't that be the most serious problem?
Starting point is 00:03:11 Yes, obviously the victim in this case is first and foremost that we want to think about here. Photos have emerged of the victim that are awful, beyond awful, bloody, beaten, bruised, and And again, leaning toward the NFL, this is exactly what gives the NFL massive amounts of public relations problems. The criticism that mounts to the NFL on the eve, as you said, of Super Bowl Sunday
Starting point is 00:03:43 happens less than nine days removed from the grand stage is nothing but bad news for the NFL. But, you know, this is a situation where you have a woman who's dating a Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman. She gets beaten. She locks herself in the bathroom, calls the police, tells them she believes that he's trying to kill her. And now he's pled not guilty to three counts of not only domestic battery resisting arrest with the police department. And man, did he resist arrest. Charles Robinson, a special guest joining us, co-host of Yahoo Sports NFL podcast, because a new report out from TMZ, my friend Harvey Levin over there, says that it took not one, not two, but three police officers to detain the massive NFL lineman Chad Wheeler during a domestic violence bloody rampage at his girlfriend's apartment. The cops described the battle like they were trying to subdue a bear. What do you know about that, Charles Robinson? Six foot seven, three hundred and ten pounds and paid to fight off men as large as him on a daily basis.
Starting point is 00:04:59 And you had three officers attempting to subdue him. They tased him to little or no effect. And, I mean, this is someone that's huge, a man that was so large they had to call in a special police van after cuffing him to take him away because they didn't think he would fit into the police cruiser. And, you know, that's part of the detail here that's so awful when you consider the victim, the alleged victim in this case, five foot nine, 140 pounds. It's it's about as awful as as a domestic violence incident can can get short of, you know, ending and how Chad Wheeler clearly thought it was going to end in in her death. And now you have him claiming that, hey, this is a mental health episode. In the police report, she had stated that she believes he was off of his medication for bipolar disorder. And that's what triggered this event.
Starting point is 00:05:53 But it's not the first incident in his past. In 2015, when he played for USC, police officers were called to an apartment where he had barricaded himself in with another young woman, and he was punching holes in walls and windows and had to be subdued in that instance with beanbags and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. So this is not the first incident. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You lost me just a moment, Charles Robinson. It's like drinking out of the fire hydrant. It's too much too fast.
Starting point is 00:06:22 Are you telling me that Chad Wheeler had another incident of beating a woman? He had another domestic incident. He did not beat the woman in that instance. He barricaded himself into an apartment with the woman and her seven-month-old son and was destroying the apartment. And when the police arrived, he had to be taken into custody through the use of beanbags because he would not listen to officers and he was taken to a hospital for mental health evaluation but never charged in that incident despite again destroying this this apartment the NFL was well aware of this
Starting point is 00:07:00 incident and it was part of the reason why after being a star at USC for four years, he was not drafted in the NFL and was signed as an undrafted free agent, which is very rare for a player of that caliber at USC. But the NFL was clearly aware of this guy's past when he came into the league. And Judge Scott Morgan, death investigator, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University. When Charles Robinson, the senior NFL reporter, Yahoo Sports NFL podcast co-host, says beanbags. We're not talking about John David throwing the beanbag at Lucy.
Starting point is 00:07:37 What's he talking about? No, what he's talking about, Nancy, is this is referred to as less than lethal force. Generally, it's fired out of a shotgun. It's similar to a 12-gauge, which is one of the largest rounds you can have. But instead of having lead pellets in it, it actually has a beanbag that is discharged, and it's an inertial energy weapon. So what happens is the blast from the shotgun drives that beam back forward and it strikes it strikes uh the body and distributes all of that power you would normally
Starting point is 00:08:12 get from a from a shotgun blast all over the surface of the body it essentially knocks you down just for a moment it shocks your system is what it does just so that somebody can subdue you get their hands on you and bring the situation to a less than lethal ending. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. As the big game day approaches this Sunday, I'm all about, wow, to my twins, what do you want for snacks? Who's the halftime show? What commercials are going to be the big hits this year? We learned that Seattle Seahawk, Chad Wheeler, in major, major trouble after a meltdown on his girlfriend. Take a listen to this. An NFL player is accused of almost beating his girlfriend to death.
Starting point is 00:09:15 And now we're hearing the terror she says she went through. What is it that's happening? The victim is whispering because she's hiding in a locked bathroom. Please help me now. Oh, my arms just won't keep. Sir, have a little pump in this room now. At one point, she texts 911 because she was too afraid to speak out loud. Please come in. He's trying to kill me, reads the text.
Starting point is 00:09:44 Break down the door now. You're hearing our friends at Inside Edition. Please come in. He's trying to kill me, reads the text. Break down the door now. You're hearing our friends at Inside Edition. Take another listen. According to court documents, the fight broke out when her boyfriend, 27-year-old Chad Wheeler, allegedly asked her to bow down to him. When she refused, he strangled her with both hands until she passed out, leaving noticeable fingerprints on both sides of her neck. When she regained consciousness, Wheeler remarked, wow, you're alive? That's when she fled into the bathroom and locked the door, at which point cops say Wheeler picked the lock.
Starting point is 00:10:16 On the 911 tape, you can hear the moment he breaks in. No questions that I'm asking you. Wheeler is 6'7 and weighs 310 pounds. I know that we heard earlier that there were claims he was simply off his meds. But picking the lock to get into the girlfriend to continue to terrorize her. Troy Slayton, high profile criminal defense attorney joining me out of LA. That shows a clear intent, mal intent. What about it, Slayton? It certainly doesn't look good. And he's been arraigned on those several charges. Like any good defense attorney, they entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. So that way,
Starting point is 00:11:05 they can have time to negotiate with prosecutors. It looks very clear, Nancy, that this is going to be a case for his defense team as far as mitigating the charges and not a question of whether or not he's going to be found guilty of something. Troy, I hear you talking about mitigating or lessening the severity of his charges, but this is not his first time at the rodeo. You just heard Charles Robinson from Yahoo talking about a previous incident where he took his girlfriend and baby hostage. A prior psychological breakdown, a prior psychological incident where he was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Starting point is 00:11:50 This is a guy who's on bipolar medication. So clearly he's got a mental problem. And so as part of any plea, a good prosecutor and defense team is going to make sure that he gets the treatment that he needs. And he can get all that treatment behind bars. Because if you know the law differently than I do, Troy Slayton, the law is very clear that voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense unless you are absolutely comatose in which case you wouldn't be able to do anything wrong anyway because you're passed out but mental voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense absolutely not nancy but mental illness is a mitigating factor. If he was suffering from a mental, not saying that he was not guilty by reason of insanity or something like that, or he wasn't capable of knowing right from wrong,
Starting point is 00:12:53 but having a mental illness is a mitigating factor that the judge will use when determining his sentence. Back to Charles Robinson, senior NFL reporter. If I understand the facts correctly, Charles, this would have to be an extremely, extremely temporary bout with disassociation because he was eating, he was hanging around his girlfriend's apartment. After he beat her to smithereens, he continued very calmly slurping his smoothie and having coherent conversations. Is that right? That's correct. And he apologized.
Starting point is 00:13:31 The police, upon entering the residence and the bathroom, caught him in the midst of an apology. So clearly he had known at that point what he had done was wrong. And, you know, the statement that she was that was reflected in the police report oh you're wow you're still alive i mean he was cognizant of what was going on around him whether or not you know that's something that can take place in the middle of a mental health episode well you're asking me how you know a watch is made i'm just telling you the time. He beat her. There's no question about that.
Starting point is 00:14:07 He apologized for it. He's come out and said he's walking away from football to get himself together. So there's clear some element of admission on his part. Now, we're going to talk about what can mitigate that. I'm not a defense attorney. I'm not a prosecutor. I can only tell you that she was beaten. There's no question about that. He did it. There's no question about that.
Starting point is 00:14:34 He's apologized for it, and he's going to have to pay a price, not only from the NFL, but obviously legally as well. Well, the fact that he apologized clearly him after the meeting talking on the phone. She thinks to his father and in response to, hey, what are you doing? He says, Chad Wheeler. I'm just chilling. Okay, Dr. Angela Arnold, what do you make of it? I'll tell you something, Nancy. The first thing that I'm thinking about is who diagnosed this man with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is not something that when somebody comes in after an incident,
Starting point is 00:15:11 you talk to them and oh my goodness, all of a sudden you give this person a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Typically to give a person a diagnosis of bipolar disorder takes some time and that you have to see some patterns of behavior and things like that. So I'm not buying the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. And I'm very protective of my patient population. And I don't think it's right to hide behind a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and say, oh, that's why I'm beating everybody up. So I'm not buying this diagnosis. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This is by far not the first time an NFLer has gotten into serious criminal trouble.
Starting point is 00:16:08 Take a listen to our cut 20. Karen Travers at ABC. Does the name Ray Rice ring a bell? The incident took place in February in an elevator at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City. You can see Rice hit Janae Palmer, who charges back at him. Then Rice lands a punch that knocks her out. In May, Rice entered a pretrial diversion program that, if completed, would mean the assault charge would be dropped. The star running back spoke to the media in late July, saying repeatedly he made the biggest mistake of his life that night.
Starting point is 00:16:40 I'm actually inexcusable. But the two-game ban sparked significant backlash, many asking why the NFL went so easy on Rice. In response, the league announced a new domestic violence policy. First-time offenders get a six-game suspension. A second offense results in a lifetime ban. You know, I've always thought Charles Robinson, senior NFL reporter, that if that had not been caught on the elevator cam, that nothing would ever have come of it. Because as I recall, you can see him actually dragging her off. Yes, there was a video of the initial video that came out. You could see him dragging her out of
Starting point is 00:17:16 the elevator. But the strike was video that came out later. But you're right. The video changed everything for the NFL, not only everything in the Ray Rice case, but I think everything in terms of a domestic violence tentpole moment for the NFL. It was on the heels of the Ray Rice case that they hired a domestic violence czar in Lisa Friel, who still holds that position in the NFL now and launch this very opaque investigative process into domestic violence. But the Ray Rice case is probably, I would say, very emblematic of how the NFL tends to deal with domestic violence cases. And that is it ramps up if something publicly comes out, whether it's video, whether it's photos, that dramatically alters the stance, and I would even say the momentum in some of these NFL investigations.
Starting point is 00:18:09 Only if it's made public. I hear what you're saying. Charles Robinson, senior NFL reporter, and you can find him, he co-hosts Yahoo Sports NFL podcast. Take a listen. I became aware of the background on LT Lawrence Taylor when he was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. I think the season after I was on Dancing with the Stars, I can't remember the season, but that's just the tip of his fame or let me say infamy. Take a listen to Brian Thomas with Associated Press. A grand jury has indicted pro football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor on charges of third-degree rape and patronizing a prostitute. The indictment follows his May 6th arrest when prosecutors say he paid a 16-year-old girl $300 to have sex with him. The former linebacker was also indicted on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse and criminal sexual act in the third degree. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. And take a listen to my friend Shep Smith, then at Fox. Today, Lawrence Taylor left a courtroom after pleading guilty to having sex with an underage prostitute.
Starting point is 00:19:30 He's now a registered sex offender, will spend six years on probation, but he won't spend any time in jail. NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor with us now in Studio B. Lawrence, thank you. Thank you. Today you pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage woman. She was 16. She claims you should have known it. Did you? No, that's not my MO. I've been, you know, I've been around kids and, uh, and people all my life, you know, um, I have, I'm not the cause of prostitution and sometimes I make mistakes and I may go out there, but I didn't pick her up in no day going to a playground. She wasn't hiding behind a school bus or getting off a school bus.
Starting point is 00:20:11 This is a working girl that came into my room, and I don't know what her age was. I asked her age. She told me she was 19. Okay, I'm just surprised somebody would still even say that. I thought she was 19. If I remember correctly, the girl, Charles Robinson, senior NFL reporter, was also beaten by the man that forced her into prostitution. And he beat the girl and drove her to L.T. Lawrence Taylor's hotel room out in the suburbs.
Starting point is 00:20:56 I mean, I still don't understand how this guy walked away with no jail time. Because they keep saying sex with a minor, that is rape. Under the law, a minor cannot consent to sex, period. Without consent, sex without consent equals rape. I don't know how Lawrence Taylor walked with no jail time, Charles Robinson. Once again, we're talking about the mitigating circumstances. And Lawrence Taylor's story was, I thought she was 19. I asked her. She said she was 19.
Starting point is 00:21:34 The girl never refuted telling him her age. And again, he says, I don't know what transpired prior to her arriving at my room. He's since then, in that moment, what we just listened to. And even in subsequent moments admitted that, Hey, you know, I, I've gotten involved with prostitutes and I don't know what occurs before they arrive. You know, I'm, I make, you know, he keeps saying, I make mistakes and there's no way for me to know how old this girl was. And, and apparently this was something that prosecutors bought and his lack of any kind of criminal history prior to this, I think, you know, factored into that. And but again, this is it's not a good look for the NFL because this is an iconic player that now is connected to this for, you know, for the rest of his life.
Starting point is 00:22:26 And every time you talk about him. There you go again, Charles Robinson. We're worried that Lawrence Taylor had his reputation tainted. Early Thursday morning, and I am quoting from an ESPN report. Early Thursday morning, Davis, the pimp, punched and kicked the girl, drove her to Lawrence Taylor's hotel against her will, told her she had to have sex with Lawrence Taylor. This is according to police. When she refused, Davis handed her over to Taylor, whose sex assaulted her.
Starting point is 00:23:03 They said, cops said, Taylor paid her $300, which she had to hand over to Taylor, who sex assaulted her, they said, cops said. Taylor paid her $300, which she had to hand over to Davis. And during all of this, the little girl is sending text messages to her uncle telling him what was happening, and he went straight to the NYPD. Now, wait a minute. Davis, the pimp, was arrested on charges of unlawful imprisonment, assault. It goes on and on and on. Now, how did this guy walk free? How did that happen, Dr. Angela Arnold?
Starting point is 00:23:40 In what universe is that okay? I have no idea. To pimp out a teen girl, order her up like she's Chinese delivery or a pizza. She comes in having been beaten, obviously beaten up. Why didn't he go to jail? I have no idea. And Nancy, what is the, oh my God, what is this speak to? Why? have no idea and nancy what is it oh my god what does this speak to why i mean there's a reason why this little girl is is in prostitution it's it's a it's a horrible reason and all of that's just going to be forgotten there's no protection for this child none whatsoever and it's all so wrong. Well, I hate to pile on. Get it? Pile on.
Starting point is 00:24:29 But take a listen to our cut one. This is ABC News reporter Ryan Smith. Darren Sharper was one of the best players of the past decade in the NFL. Now he's facing, now he's in jail for numerous sexual assault charges. A real life Jekyll and Hyde, who at one point supported women's causes, but later went on to attack women all over the country. Darren Sharper was a Super Bowl champ. The things that I've done in the past has been able to help teens win.
Starting point is 00:24:56 Earning millions over 14 NFL seasons. And later, shining as an NFL TV analyst. You don't want to have bad team chemistry. But this morning, the gridiron great suffering a staggering fall from grace. How do you plead to the charge? Go to him. After admitting he's been leading a double life as a serial rapist. Authorities say Sharper sexually assaulted or attempted to assault at least nine women in four states over five months
Starting point is 00:25:21 after rendering some of them unconscious by lacing their drinks with a generic form of Ambien. That's our friend, formerly of HLN, Ryan Smith, reporting Charles Robinson, Darren Sharper, same thing. Everything at his fingertips, money, power, wealth, fame, good health, at the top of his game, and yet was having to drug women to rape them? Yeah, this was probably one of the more shocking things that you'd ever seen develop from someone who had a sterling reputation. People who were close to him for decades could not believe that this was something
Starting point is 00:26:08 that occurred. And I think even the prison sentence, given what transpired, seemed light. You know, 20 years for the number of crimes that he was alleged to have committed and in such a short span of time. And again, we're just talking about a period of time where, you know, does a thief get caught the first time he steals something, you know, is this the first and only five month period in which Darren Sharper might have sexually abused women, you know, raped women, drugged women. It's it was definitely a moment in NFL history that I think no one could have ever anticipated with this individual. attack and commit crimes that are unthinkable, unspeakable, and yet it gets woven into sort of what part of the NFL's culture is.
Starting point is 00:27:23 Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. For those of you just joining us, we're all getting ready for the big game, the match on Sunday. It's Super Bowl Sunday. And, yes, I'm going to be watching. My husband's going to be watching. Our children are going to be watching. We can't wait to see the halftime show. We can't wait to see all the commercials, to see the game itself. It's a big deal. It's super fun.
Starting point is 00:27:52 I would never mention any of this to my twins ages 13, but as I look at all of the modern day gladiators out there on the field, I know there's another side that is very often swept under the rug. And I can't let that happen. We're talking about right now, Seattle Seahawks, Chad Wheeler. Take a listen to our Cut 13. This is NFL anchor with ESPN, Laura Rutledge, and reporter Adam Schefter. Chad Wheeler, who played five games for the Seahawks this past season, has been released from jail on a $400,000 bond after being arrested for felony assault domestic violence. He's accused of throwing a woman on a bed, strangling her before she lost consciousness, and picking the lock to a bathroom where she had fled to call 911.
Starting point is 00:28:44 Adam Schefter with us. Adam, what more can you tell us? Laura, these are highly troubling charges, and the Seattle Seahawks this afternoon pointed out that Chad Wheeler is no longer a member of that team because his contract is up and he will not be brought back to that team. Also, the Seahawks released a very carefully, strongly, and well-worded statement in which they basically said that they condemn domestic violence, that Chad Wheeler is somebody that should seek help at this point in time. And they listed the number of the national hotline renowned psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold, forensics expert Joseph Scott receives, and rightfully so. It's a family event for families to enjoy.
Starting point is 00:29:51 Charles Robinson, I guess the NFL wishes none of this had ever happened. Yeah, I think the NFL wishes everyone would move beyond it. And the NFL's done nothing. That's the striking thing about the Chad Wheeler case is that while the Seattle Seahawks waived Chad Wheeler and have essentially said we're no longer going to be tied to this individual, the NFL has made no statement whatsoever. And I think for the NFL, it follows a history of something entering the legal realm. The NFL sits back and says, we're going to let the legal realm play out before we have to act. But technically, if Chad Wheeler is no longer in the NFL
Starting point is 00:30:32 and he says he's walking away from football, I don't know if that means retirement or whatnot, the NFL could essentially do nothing about this. They could make no statements. There could be no punishment. There could be effectively no recourse on the NFL's part when it comes to Chad Wheeler. And I think there are people inside the league who are very upset about that and think that regardless of whether or not he's an NFL player right now, the NFL should make a statement about what occurred with this player
Starting point is 00:31:02 and at the very least condemn the act, which the NFL has not beyond the Seattle Seahawks, the private franchise itself. You're right. They do need to step up and do everything they can to stop violence committed by their NFL members, even though they're not resigning him. Let me understand something else. Charles Robinson, NFL senior reporter, is it true? I know that the former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle, Chad Wheeler, has just pled not guilty to criminal charges of first-degree domestic violence assault,
Starting point is 00:31:37 domestic violence unlawful imprisonment, and resisting arrest. Is it true that he asked if he could leave the lower 48 and go to Hawaii? Yeah, well, that's the allegation that he has requested, leaving, essentially, as you said, leaving the continent and going to Hawaii, which is, I don't know what the standard is for someone to be allowed to do something like that. Obviously, I don't think that's going to happen in this case. I'm surprised that he was allowed to bond out the day after this happened. I was surprised about that, too, him bonding out.
Starting point is 00:32:18 To you, Troy Slayton, the alleged victim in this case, appeared in court with her left arm in a sling. The prosecutor's office there in King County read a statement on her behalf where she restated the details about what happened. And she said she does not feel safe as long as Wheeler is out of custody. She also objected to Wheeler's request he be allowed to stay at his home in Hawaii. Well, first of all, everyone's entitled to reasonable bail unless it's some sort of capital offense. And the only purpose of bail is to ensure that the person returns to court. And there's no evidence that he's had failures to appear or is any kind of flight risk. So it really doesn't matter. He's only had one court appearance, so don't get too excited. It doesn't matter where he is as long as he makes his court appearances. So right now he has a GPS track.
Starting point is 00:33:12 That's not true. Very often defendants cannot leave the jurisdiction. He has a GPS. I don't even know what you're talking about. He has a GPS tracking device. And the reason why judges sometimes. That can be cut off. The reason why judges sometimes say that you can't leave the jurisdiction is to ensure that they make their court appearances and they don't run away.
Starting point is 00:33:34 And it's what I thought was very odd. So you're agreeing that a judge can order that because just a moment ago you said that you don't have to do, that's impossible. But it's ordered all the time. It's very odd. That's why we have the monitoring ankles victim in this case commented on uh where she wanted him to be or whether or not she's opposed she really has no standing she wanted him in jail crime victims say that all the time standing i don't want him out i'm scared in uh in Seattle, or in Hawaii. She really has no standing to say
Starting point is 00:34:08 where he's going to reside while he's out on pretrial release. Did I ask you that? No, I did not ask you to comment on what the victim said. I asked you, and correction, I reminded you that a judge can order a defendant not to leave the jurisdiction that's following up on the NFL reporter Charles Robinson saying he was surprised the guy even made bond. The police report states when police forced entry into the apartment, she was crying in pain, her face covered in blood, her left arm swollen and limp laying on her body. She had fingerprint marks, fingerprint marks on both sides of her neck. That's in the police report. Joe Scott Morgan, what does that mean when you have fingerprints on both sides of your neck? I mean, his hand is as big as a Virginia ham, for Pete's sake.
Starting point is 00:35:03 It wrapped all the way around her neck. Yeah, she's been throttled, Nancy. She's been throttled by this fellow applying direct pressure to this area. And if you can see the images of her, Nancy, there's a full-on facial shot of her lying on a hospital gurney. And you can actually see how edematous her head is. In other words, it's swollen. It's still swollen following this event because of the backup of blood, the lack of oxygen.
Starting point is 00:35:32 And not to mention, she's got a tremendous amount of blood that you can see that's dried just beneath both nostrils. Her lips are swollen. It looks like she's been popped in the face. Can you imagine if you use that idea of a ham, you know, you think about a small ham that comes in a can, that approximates the size of this guy's hands. And just as Charles had said earlier,
Starting point is 00:35:56 this guy's 6'7", Nancy. He's 300 pounds plus. He is a mountain of a man. It took three grown-ass men to get this guy down with a taser. And a taser. And a taser. And he's going to attack this little woman like this. He did a number on her, Nancy. And the fact that he's sitting there and saying, Hey, I've got more to tell you and I need you to analyze it. Scans have revealed a fractured
Starting point is 00:36:23 humerus, dislocated elbow and her arm. Also, a scan of the woman's chest shows indication she aspirated fluid. You can die that way. And she vomited large amounts of blood the following day. She can't swallow. She can't eat. She has headache, neck pain. I guess she does. But but when you aspirate it means you breathe in the blood or you can aspirate anything that you're eating or drinking you breathe it in and you choke to death and this woman is actually vomiting up blood joe scott yeah she's probably you know she's choking on her own vomit as well. And this causes, again, I'm going to use this word edema or swelling, not just to her face and her neck
Starting point is 00:37:11 externally, which you can see, it's also impacting her lungs, her ability to breathe. And you talk about these injuries that she has to her arm. To me, Nancy, that, you know, when you're a kid, you take somebody or you see somebody on a playground, take somebody's hand and bend it behind them and push the elbow up. OK, kids do this for years. You know, you're roughhousing, that sort of thing. Imagine this gigantic mountain of a man doing this to this diminutive woman where he takes his hands because, hey, in this guy's world, everybody outside the NFL is diminutive, all right? Guys, we are talking about Chad Wheeler, former Seattle Seahawk. And as we all gather around our TV this weekend, and yes, we are,
Starting point is 00:37:56 as my children watch the commercials, watch the game, watch the halftime show. You know what? I don't want them to know all this. That's for mommy to know. Not them. We wait as justice and the big game unfold. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.
Starting point is 00:38:22 This is an iHeart Podcast.

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