NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Testified at Hearing, and Now It's Ray Rice's Turn
The NFL commissioner testified for two hours, sources said.
— -- Ray Rice and his wife, Janay, are slated to testify today in the running back’s appeal hearing, one day after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was questioned about the league’s handling of the investigation into the Pro Bowl player, sources familiar with the hearing told ESPN.
Goodell testified for more than two hours Wednesday, facing cross-examination at a New York City legal office into the league’s handling of the Pro Bowl running back, the sources said. Goodell’s statements have not been revealed, because the hearing is under a gag order.
Rice, 27, is appealing his indefinite suspension from the league, arguing he was forthcoming with NFL executives after he was arrested for a February domestic violence incident inside an Atlantic City, New Jersey, hotel elevator.
After meeting with Goodell in June, Rice was suspended for two games. But when new video from the attack emerged online months later, Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the league, with the NFL considering the second video clip to be new evidence. Race says the indefinite suspension constitutes double jeopardy.
The commissioner refuted Rice’s claims about the February attack in a September interview with CBS.
“When we met with Ray Rice and his representatives, it was ambiguous about what actually happened,” Goodell said at the time. “We certainly didn’t know what was on that tape.”
After the indefinite suspension was announced, the NFL Players Association weighed in on behalf of Rice.
“We think the league knew everything what happened inside, outside the elevator before they ever spoke to Ray Rice,” an NFLPA source told ESPN’s Josina Anderson in September. “We think we can prove it. We’ll see.”
The Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this report.