ALL charges against Benson dropped.

by Lincoln on Sep 25, 2008 6:36 PM CDT

Statesman reports that BOTH of the grand juries (one dealing with the boating charge, the other with the driving charge) have found a lack of evidence against Cedric, leaving prosecutors with no choice to but to drop both cases.

For those not familiar with the legal process, this says a great deal about the weakness of the cases brought against Cedric (and perhaps speaks as much to how law enforcement handled the two incidents). A grand jury is a pre-trial stage. (Not to be confused with an actual jury that would sit during a trial and offer a final verdict.) It is often joked that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich of wrong doing...it is just that easy to show probable cause and move forward to a trial. In both instances involving Cedric, the prosecution failed to establish this otherwise basic step.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/longhorns/entries/2008/09/25/benson_charges.html

This may open a few more doors for Cedric.

With regards to other Horns receiving some rare positive press, ESPN has added two more items to the Vince Young saga with a little less negative light.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?page=hotread2/merrill

and

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3608511

And of course that third Longhorn who baffles the press (Ricky Williams), rushed for just shy of 100 yards against the Patriots last week but was overshadowed by Ronnie Brown's break out.

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Does Cedric have any recourse?

When this all went down and the Bears released him, I told a few people that could hurt the Bears if Cedric is innocent or the charges were dropped/lessened or whatever. I think they jumped the gun (no it didn’t look good after the second charge, but how about innocent until proven guilty???).

Seriously, does Cedric have a leg to stand on to sue the Bears?? Why not? The NFL has not suspended him or banned him from playing. I don’t see how the commish could even force him to sit out and/or attend some kind of AA meeting / community service.

I wonder if the Saints and Lions were just holding off until the legal action had run its course. Will either team come calling now?? I’m sure he still looks somewhat questionable given the situation he put himself in, but I don’t see him sitting idle much longer.

by UTHorns on Sep 25, 2008 8:57 PM CDT reply actions

More than likely the Saints

The Lions have Kevin Smith and Rudi Johnson

by bamfor on Sep 25, 2008 11:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Without gauranteed contracts

I dont think the Bears are obligated to do anything, they can let anyone go whenever they want for whatever reason they want.

I could be wrong, but I dont think theres anything Ced can do to the Bears, nor should he do anything if he hopes to play in the NFL again.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Sep 26, 2008 7:50 AM CDT up reply actions

I dont know about sue

but I would think the players union would have some system of arbitration.

by Wells on Sep 27, 2008 11:43 AM CDT up reply actions

What about the Texans?

Steve Slaton needs some help!

by Longhorns84 on Sep 26, 2008 8:22 AM CDT reply actions

Amen to that!

on paper you’d like to think that Ced could go a long way to redeem himself in a Texans uniform. Shoot they were willing to sign Chris Brown (how he passed the NFL physical I’ll never now since he never played a down before going on IR) and even if Kubiak doesn’t necessarily think he fits the mold he’s healthier than Ahman Green…

I bet they could sign him for Vet minimum easy at this point. I’m still very distrubed about the report that Ced’s fellow Bears wanted to hurt him in practice he was so totally despised.

by longhornJ on Sep 26, 2008 12:28 PM CDT up reply actions