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The fine folks at TMZ.com report that Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart won’t be investigated for providing alcohol to underage females.
Regardless of whether he did.
The Sheriff of Maricopa County tells TMZ.com that pictures aren’t enough evidence to charge someone with a crime.
Sure they’re not. But they can provide the framework for some, you know, actual police work.
As we’ve said before, the inherent discretion possessed by law enforcement highlights the biggest flaw with the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy. In Mike Vick’s case, for example, Surry County prosecutor Gerald Poindexter (we actually miss typing his name four times a day) might have never done a thing if the feds hadn’t gotten involved. In turn, Vick would still be among the free, and playing football.
In Leinart’s case, there’s no basis for federal jurisdiction. So if the local boys aren’t going to take any action against the starting quarterback of the resident NFL team, then nothing will come of it.
Regardless of whether Leinart’s actions broke any laws.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Just goes to show you, no one cares about the Cards……..
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April 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I live about 4 miles from Matt Leinart. The real crime is that I wasn’t invited.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I think suggesting that he should be investigated, is as negligent as suggesting preferential treatment.
If you had suggested that police should begin using their resources to scan sites like MySpace.com for pictures of men and women drinking in effort to find underage drinking - then maybe I’d at least withhold from commenting on your opinion.
However, it sounds as though you think law enforcement should go after celebrities and set examples, rather than using committing their resources to more important things, or at least fair pursuit of wrongdoing.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Please, please, PLEASE tell me that “the fine folks at TMZ.com” is sarcasm. The people that work for TMZ are truly the scum of the earth.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
@ jared2181-
Take a deep breathe. Think about it and most of you on this board need to think about it. The law does not distinguish underage drinking. Had one of those girls (someone’s) daughter left his place and was say in accident or hurt in any kind of way..do you honestly think their parents would have been like…ohh it’s Matt Leinhart ..let him live his life..it’s all good. Allowing our daughters to drink at his place is fine? Now in the real world…parents who let their friends or child drink at their home are susceptible to charges. Period. Why shouldn’t Matt?
Also…Chris Henry was charged with giving minors alcohol..correct? So how is this any different? Remember the law does not distinguish…whether you are 18 or 19 or 15..minor is a minor when it comes to drinking.
And in those pics…was Matt holding the beer bong and filling it??? Is that not enough to suggest that he supplied or at least enabled this behavior….??
All I’m saying is that it appears that Matty boy is getting a free pass on this one ….
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
All indications are that Leinart did not pull a (Mark)Chmura. He is 23 partying with attractive women in his age group, even if they are slightly under the 21 drinking age. Besides, none of these girls have lodged complaints to the police, which we could then conclude that it was innocent “clean” partying with no strings attached–no date-rape drugs, no sex with passed-out girls, etc., all of which would have prompted a call to the police. After all, most of us have hosted harmless parties (small gatherings) where underaged drinking occurred, everyone behaved, no one drove home drunk etc. However, being a celebrity, Matty has to be very careful or he will get himself in trouble; all it takes is a vindictive/scorned/opportunistic woman to file a frivilous lawsuit & tarnish his reputation. Matty should be allowed the benefit of the doubt & due-process. Should NFL Security assume the role of the Morality Police–not likely.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
The majority of 23 year olds in Leinarts shoes would be doing the same thing. If they weren’t, then they aren’t normal. Come on Florio, I usually agree with you but who cares? The police have better things to do. Dogfighting is one thing, but don’t compare it to partying with hot college coeds. ‘Nuff said.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Spanky07: If you don’t think your 20 year old daughters are drinking and partying at school, you’re a retard. Its what 19 and 20 year old kids do. SOMEONE is buying them all alcohol, plus, how do you know its beer in there? What if its Apple Juice or Ginger Ale? Prove that its beer. You can’t from a picture. Underage girls are not going to go out of their way to say it was beer because they get slapped with underage drinking charges themselves. Don’t be stupid. No one in those pictures is going to admit anything illegal was going on.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
What they need to worry about investigating is why Leinhart can’t shake that D-lister Nick Leech-ey.
See how I did a play on words with Lachey’s last name implying that he is in fact a leech?
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
spanky07: If my 18+ year old daughter/son was drinking/partying in college I’d think: ‘Well, that’s pretty normal”. Why should it be Leinharts job to police your children? Should he card every girl he meets at a party? If I meet a girl at a bar, I assume she’s 21. If you don’t want your son/daughter partying, raise them better don’t expect others to do it for you. I sincerely doubt he kidnapped these girls and forced them to go to the party and drink.
I’ve never understood why minors over 18 don’t get charged for ACCEPTING alcohol, as opposed to charging everyone else involved (actually I’ve never understood why they can die for their country but not drink a Coors either). They’re legally adults, they should be responsible for their own actions. If they’re under 18 and they’re at a college party, perhaps you’ve failed as a parent.
Your children are your responsibility. Not mine, yours. This includes protecting them from alcohol, drugs, rape, kidnapping, etc.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
@stone1549
But this is no other party and this is at HIS (Matt’s) residence. He has an inherent responsibilty being an athlete that wants to be a celebrity.
This is what they talk about at the rookie symposium year in and year out.
He has to be aware of what is going on. He is no normal 23 year old. And let’s remember..this cat is a father now so he should be taking some responsibilty for his actions. I am no t saying that he should stop partying or what not….but he might want to keep it under the radar a little more.
But this is the problem with youtube and the internet…it’s not like back in the day when you could party and it was all hear say. Now if you see it online it spreads like wildfire..and this is a direct result.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I think many of you are missing the point of Florio. The Personal Conduct Policy allows the almighty Commissioner to suspend players without pay based upon mere allegations. An arrest or the filing of a criminal charge does not make something true. Pacman Jones was charged for allegedly spitting on a woman in a night club. This was part of the throw Pac out of the NFL argument. A few weeks later, Albert Haynesworth intentionally stomps on Andre Gurode’s head (twice) resulting in blood and stitches. I call that criminal assault and battery. It is also civil battery. So Pacman is suspended in part for his many arrests — allegations — many of which resulted in a slap on the wrist or were dismissed or sentence was deferred for a period of supervision. The same prosecutor that brought charges based upon the woman’s allegation that Pacman “spat?” at her did not prosecute Haynesworth even though all the evidence necessary was right there for everyone to see.
A policy that allows players to be suspended without substantial review, that allows players to be suspended based merely upon the filing of charges or an arrest and not a conviction, will only cause this type of debate.
Goodell should investigate — if he wants to appear to avoid the appearance of impropriety. If the girls are underage then punish, if not no punishment, really simple. Heck, many people have complained about Pacman going to a strip club the night before he met with Goodell. So what? It is legal. It is possible that Leinart’s actions were illegal. Now that there is evidence, look into it. To do otherwise, makes it seem like white players get a pass.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Good Newz Kennels: Yes, suppose an adult (18+, old enough to go to war and be tried as an adult) chose to drink alcohol and then drive and they hurt somebody. It would surely be Leinharts fault correct? At what point do we become responsible for our own actions? I’m aware there would legally be liability for the person providing the alcohol, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. If I go to the counter and buy benadryl for my allergies, pop some in the car and get drowsy enough to fall asleep on the road and kill someone… is it the pharmacists fault?
I can understand the outrage, and facing liability for damages, if the person is not legally an adult. If they are legally an adult, they should be responsible for their actions.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
jarrettcp: My point is, regardless of the actual law, if 18+ is legally an adult they should be legally responsible for their own actions. The current law makes Leinhart responsible for the decisions of another adult, that is never a good thing. If your over 18 and under 21 and you go to a party with alcohol, you should be responsible for not drinking.
Now, that’s not how the law works, and the police should enforce the law. They should enforce it equally however. No normal 23 year old is going to be investigated by the police over pictures of them at a party with girls. As a previous poster said, prove it’s not apple juice, I’ll add prove they didn’t show a fake ID. In most areas of the country the police would not waste resources on this.
Finally, regardless of what the conference says, professional athletes are not obligated to be good role models. Parents are obligated to point out good role models. The guy can throw a football, if your child thinks that’s a good enough reason to copy his lifestyle than maybe you fail as a parent. It’s not Matt Leinharts job to raise other peoples children.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 pm
The thing I worry about is how Leinart looked in the beer bong photo: kinda fat. He looks like he’s getting a slight double chin and you can clearly see a gut forming under his shirt. This is the same guy who wants to be taken seriously by Arizona and who wants them to “ride or die” with him. Yeah right!
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April 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
By the way, I’m not in anyway implying that you are a poor parent, I certainly can’t make a judgment like that by reading a few board posts. It’s simply easier to say ‘your child’ than ’suppose someone had a child and they’.
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April 4th, 2008 at 7:42 am
This whole situation is stupid. These girls wanted to rub elbows with pretty boy celebs. They didn’t need to be coerced into drinking or jumping into a hot tub at all. They took pics to show off for their friends and the whole thing snowballed. The fact is Matt and Nick could have nailed every one of the girls photographed and nobody woulda said jack. They are of consentual age to do that. As soon as a beer is introduced people get all holier than thou and start a damn witch hunt. Can we stray from America’s Puritan roots for half a second please? If this were Germany or England, the tabloids would be digging in to who these girls actually were and who’s gonna be Leinart’s next baby momma, not whether or not an investigation should be launched. I remember being 23 and it looked a lot like that (except my wingman wasn’t such a fruit).
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April 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
seriously it’s nice to be a regular white guy doing white things every white guy does. but when other nfl athletes, the black ones, get arrested for providing alcohol to underage girls there’s a call for crucification.
these responses are a glimpse into the double standard. look at all the comments saying come on we do this all the time… or we’d do the same thing. shame.
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April 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Com’on Florio….
Don’t compare supplying underage drinking to murdering dogs….
I think its a lot different!
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