Brennan: NFL wants Hardy to supply photos of crime scene

Christine Brennan | USA TODAY Sports

Less than a year after the Ray Rice incident erupted into the worst controversy in NFL history, league officials have requested that Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy give them all relevant information from his domestic violence case, including photos showing the crime scene and the injuries to his former girlfriend, Nicole Holder.

After the uproar last September over the elevator video of Rice punching the woman he later married, Janay Palmer Rice, the NFL does not want to rule on Hardy's punishment without seeing those photos.

League officials also are expected to scrutinize one key piece of Holder's testimony against Hardy: That he threw her onto a futon covered with rifles. It is possible that any suspension Hardy is facing for domestic violence could be extended by the presence of the guns, how many there were and if they were legally obtained.

Hardy, 26, originally was found guilty of domestic violence in a bench trial last summer before being cleared of all charges last month when Holder could not be found to testify against him in a jury trial.

He is expected to meet with NFL officials Wednesday in New York. It is not known whether he will provide the league with the evidence it has requested. The NFL tried unsuccessfully to have the photos and other evidence from Hardy's bench trial unsealed.

That is why the league is now looking to Hardy himself to provide those materials, and it expects him to do just that so he can obtain a resolution in his case and know what league punishment he will be facing before he becomes a free agent March 10.

If he doesn't cooperate, that could very well be taken into account by the NFL in the length of his suspension.

Another piece of the NFL's calculation is likely to be U.S. District Judge David Doty's ruling last week overturning the league's suspension of Adrian Peterson, which the NFL is appealing. People close to the situation spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Under the league's tough new personal conduct policy, a first offense could be a six-game suspension. It also could be more than six games, or less. Add in the issue of the guns, and Hardy could be facing significant punishment from the league. He missed all but one game last season after being put on the commissioner's exempt list, but he still received his $13.1 million salary.

Another aspect of the case certain to be considered by the league is the fact that Hardy was found guilty by Mecklenburg (N.C.) District Judge Becky Thorne Tin in the bench trial. Holder did testify in that trial, describing an ordeal worse than what happened to Palmer Rice in that Atlantic City elevator.

Holder said Hardy, who is 6-4 and 265 pounds, flung her from a bed, threw her into a bathtub and then tossed her onto the futon covered with rifles. Holder said Hardy ripped a necklace he had given her off her neck, threw it into a toilet and then slammed the lid on her arm when she tried to retrieve it.

Hardy dragged Holder by the hair room to room, she said, before putting his hands around her throat.

"He looked me in my eyes and he told me he was going to kill me," Holder said. "I was so scared I wanted to die. When he loosened his grip slightly, I said, 'Just do it. Kill me.'"

Later, as Holder said she was held by her former boyfriend's personal assistant, she said Hardy made a 911 call, showed her the phone, and said, "Run, little girl. You're going to jail."

Judge Tin found Hardy guilty, giving him a 60-day suspended sentence and 18 months probation on misdemeanor charges of assault on a female and communicating threats. But Hardy exercised his rights under North Carolina law, which dictates that someone found guilty of a misdemeanor before a judge is allowed to appeal to a jury trial. When Holder could not be found, prosecutors threw out the charges before that trial.

The NFL is not required to rely on the results of the legal system as it determines its punishment for Hardy, or any player. In fact, in his report on the Rice investigation released in January, former FBI director Robert Mueller encouraged the league to embark on its own investigations and a new kind of no-nonsense toughness, exemplified by the league's new personal conduct policy.