Jarvis Landry will not face charges in domestic incident

In August, news of an investigation into a domestic incident involving Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry broke. The original incident happened in April, and the Dolphins had said that Landry was clear with them from the time it happened, and that they were just waiting to see what happened in the legal process.

Now, it appears, nothing will happen - at least on the legal side. The Broward State Attorney’s Office has declined to press any charges, determining there was “no reasonable likelihood” of a conviction if the case was brought to court. The NFL could still look into the situation themselves, having already established the precedence that they can and will suspend a player for domestic incidents without legal charges or a conviction. There has not been any indication of what the league may do in Landry’s case.

After the State Attorney’s office declined to press charges, Landry released a statement:

“I am very thankful that this matter is over and my family and I can put this behind us now. I greatly respect and appreciate the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for their hard work and thankful that they were able to come to a conclusion that reaffirms the true facts that no crime was committed.

“My daughter’s mother and I will continue to co-parent to raise our child in a happy and healthy environment. I would like to thank my family and friends for their continued support throughout this process.”

The State Attorney’s office said in their memorandum declining to press charges, “The victim maintains that the defendant did not intent to touch her [or] strike her, but accidentally did so and may not have even realized that he had touched her chest as he reached for her phone. There are no independent witnesses to this incident. The video surveillance of the incident appears to corroborate the victim’s account as well.

“When watched carefully, the video is consistent with the victim’s account of the incident, that the defendant did not slap her, but instead grabbed her phone and threw it back into the car,” the memorandum from the State’s Attorney continued.

Estrella Cerqueira, the mother of Landry’s child and the other side of the incident, has maintained throughout the process that there was no violence involved in the incident. She has said there was an argument, including yelling at each other, that night, and that her mother called the police as the volume increased - initially Cerqueira alleged Landry had slapped her, but quickly admitted she made that up and that Landry had accidentally touched her cheek as he tried to grab her phone. No arrests were made the night of the incident.