An impassioned plea from Ray Rice’s wife, Janay Palmer, at the Baltimore Ravens running back’s disciplinary hearing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly was instrumental in limiting the length of Rice’s league suspension for a domestic violence incident involving Palmer to two games.
The sentence was perceived as overly lenient in light of the evidence against Rice — which included surveillance video of Rice dragging Palmer’s apparently unconscious body from the elevator of an Atlantic City casino following what police said was a physical altercation between the couple, then engaged, now married.
A report Friday from MMQB.com lays out the reasons why Goodell settled on a mere two-game ban for Rice. Palmer’s testimony was chief among them. A source told the website Palmer vowed Rice’s outburst was a one-time occurrence and urged the commissioner not to spoil Rice’s career with a punitive ban.
The other reasons included: Rice never had previously violated NFL policy (conduct or substance); Rice was not convicted of a crime in the Atlantic City incident; Rice is very active in community service, especially in anti-bullying campaigns; Rice went into counseling.
The article also cites a person close to Rice, who referred to the violent episode and its aftermath as a “wake-up call.”
“He’s legitimately angry with himself for making this mistake,” the affiliate said. “I know after it happened he was sick about it.”