A judge just denied the motion to permanently seal evidence in Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs’ battery case, including a video from inside his garage. This denial came down Thursday from Judge Marc Hammer, meaning the evidence, which was temporarily sealed at Jacobs’ request, will now be handled by the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department. This is a massive turn in the case because the NFL had been trying to get their hands on this video and hadn’t been able to. Now, the league’s got a whole new problem on its hands.
What’s Actually On That Video?
Look, we’ve got to talk about what the police report says this video shows, even if we don’t know the full story yet. The report states the video reveals “the altercation,” specifically showing the victim on the ground for 40 seconds. After that, Jacobs reportedly returns to the garage and damages the victim’s cellphone. What’s still unclear, according to the report’s wording, is whether the video actually captures what led to the victim ending up on the ground in the first place. The police report itself states Jacobs grabbed and threw an anonymous woman , identified as his girlfriend , to the ground, causing injury. But it doesn’t explicitly confirm if *that specific part* was caught on video, unlike the cellphone damage. Also, because she didn’t live with Jacobs or have a child with him, the incident didn’t qualify for a domestic abuse enhancer in Wisconsin, which is a detail that changes things legally.
The NFL’s Ray Rice Deja Vu
Jacobs is currently stuck on the commissioner exempt list, meaning no field time, no practice, just meetings in the Packers’ building. The NFL hasn’t dropped a suspension yet because they’ve been waiting to talk to him and, more importantly, see this video. Why the delay? Because the league learned a brutal lesson during the Ray Rice case: they can only punish a player *once* for a single action. If they suspend Jacobs now, and then this video goes public with new, damning details, they can’t punish him again. Rice famously sued the league on that very basis, winning an arbitration case that dropped his indefinite suspension and meant he had to be paid for games beyond his initial two-game ban. Jacobs pleaded no contest to battery and criminal damage to property earlier this month, so the league knows some of the story. Now, with this video about to be public, they’re walking a tightrope.
The district court’s order denying the permanent seal officially kicks in Friday. Both Jacobs and the victim can still try to appeal the release of the evidence, but that’s going to be through the police department, not the district court anymore. The Hobart-Lawrence Police Department has 10 days to respond to public records requests for the evidence. So yeah, we’re about to get answers, one way or another. This whole situation is about to get a lot clearer, and the league is definitely watching with bated breath.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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