Sweeney: Not Targeting Prosecutor In Ray Rice Case

State Sen. President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) clarified that his call for an investigation into the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case was not an accusation of anyone Wednesday morning.

“I just want to make sure it was handled properly,” Sweeney said in an appearance on the Mike and Mike radio show, broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio. “I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but this is shocking to me.”

He said this situation is more important than Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens running back and Rutgers University football star.

On Tuesday, he called for Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman to investigate the process the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office followed when it allowed Rice to enter into a pre-trial intervention program to allow him to keep his record clean.

“The Attorney General is the proper person to handle it,” Sweeney said. “If he determines they followed the process and this is process, the process has to change.”

Rice was accused of assaulting then-fiancee Janay Palmer in a Revel Casino elevator in Atlantic City on Feb. 15.

Sweeney said he is disturbed by the Prosecutor’s Office’s claims that it handled the Rice situation the way it would’ve handled any other first time offender.

He also said that although Palmer, now Rice’s wife, is defending him, the victim often feels as though they are to blame.

He said he found it shocking that the NFL wouldn’t have seen the video.

“The Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t release the video, but there was someone shopping it around,” Sweeney said, referring to TMZ’s release of the video on Monday. “ … The NFL’s a pretty powerful organization. But if (Commissioner Roger Goodell) says he hasn’t seen it, we have to take him at his word.”

He said he doesn’t expect the case to be reopened, but if they can prevent the same situation from happening to others, this case calls for a deeper look.

“Our domestic violence laws have not been addressed since the 1990’s,” Sweeney said. “I was always taught that putting your hands on women and children is unacceptable.”

The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office had no comment when contacted by Patch Wednesday morning. The Governor’s Office didn’t respond to a request seeking comment Wednesday morning.

Several pieces of legislation concerning domestic violence were scheduled to be considered by the Women and Children Assembly Committee on Thursday, including required counseling for certain offenders, a supervised reintegration program for abuse victims, required background check for a restraining order by law enforcement officials upon arresting an offender, creating a self defense justification for victims and allowing witnesses under the age of 16 to testify via closed circuit television in domestic violence cases.