CLEVELAND, Ohio – Two of Deshaun Watson’s accusers were moved during Tuesday night’s interview with Soledad O’Brien on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and one claimed that it was obviously false that he did anything wrong during her massage dates.
Watson, 26, declined HBO’s request to be interviewed for the play due to his pending NFL investigation, but one of his attorneys, Leah Graham, firmly maintained his innocence before O ‘ Brien, wondering “what evidence is there of guilt?”
The interviews aired the same day that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell revealed during the closing press conference at a league meeting in Atlanta that the NFL is about to finish reviewing the allegations against Watson and to hand the matter over to independent disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson, the former U.S. District Judge, to decide whether to fine or suspend him, or both, under the terms of the Policy. personal conduct.
“I can’t give you a timeline,” Goodell told reporters at a news conference. “I think we are about to end the investigation period and at some point this will be handled by our disciplinary officer. And that will happen soon. And then we’ll see where that goes.”
The two prosecutors interviewed by O’Brien, Ashley Solis and Kyla Hayes, obviously expect the NFL to drop Watson’s hammer. They are among the 22 massage therapists, all represented by attorney Tony Buzbee, who have filed civil lawsuits against Watson for sexual misconduct during the dates and feel that they are not being heard or believed.
But Watson’s lawyers feel the same way about him throughout this process.
In fact, Watson’s attorney general, Rusty Hardin, told cleveland.com on Friday that his client was convicted in public opinion court from the beginning because sexual misconduct is such a major social issue and no one gave it a try.
Hardin also told 92.3 The Fan on Tuesday that in these situations “the presumption of innocence comes out the window and the allegation is treated as the truth of the matter. And that has been the box in which he has “The type they described from the beginning is not what we know, and yet they have not been given the benefit of the doubt, and they should.”
But Solis and Hayes, both crying during their interviews, painted a compelling picture for O’Brien, as Hardin knew they would.
“He ended up exposing himself (during the massage) and I hurried over and covered him with the towel and he said,‘ Oh, you don’t have to worry about the towel, ’” Solis told O’Brien. “I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ He asked me to work on his abdomen. He just told me to go downstairs and say, “Don’t be afraid, you can come in.”
Solís, the first therapist to file a lawsuit, explained that “I’ve just started to freeze a lot right now. A wave has just taken over my body. I was feeling so hot. I was sweating. more clearly that was not what I was aiming for, this was not what I thought the session would be.
“While I’m working, he deliberately grabs me and puts his penis in my hand and I pulled my hand out instantly and started crying and told him I was done,” Solís said. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Solis said that after telling Watson that she had finished the session, she felt intimidated.
He said, ‘I know you have a career to protect.’ then when I got really scared … because it sounded like a threat to me. “
Solis was upset by Watson’s legal team’s insistence that any sexual contact during the dating was consensual. In the statements, Watson admitted to having sex with three of the plaintiffs, but that it was consensual.
“I’m not a sex worker,” Solis said. “I’m a masseur. Let them say that anything was consensual, or they don’t realize or they don’t care about the danger it puts me in. Because that sends the message to people that massage therapists do that kind of thing.”
Solís also believes that Watson’s famous business with the Browns has encouraged him.
“Everyone who is so comfortable working with him in the future is also comfortable with what he has done and what he will potentially do,” he said.
As the demands came, Solis said she felt “sad that someone would have to feel like me when she was in the room because she’s so scared.”
As for why two separate grand jurors in Texas did not charge Watson with criminal charges, Solis said, “I have no idea. I don’t see how any of those humans could have sat in front of me and thought that what he did was fine.
Hayes wept during the interview when O’Brien played a clip of Watson denying any crime during Browns’ introductory press conference in March, during which he testified that he never disrespected or assaulted a woman.
“It’s a lot,” he said. “It’s kind of a constant reminder of what happened. And for him to say he’s never done anything to a woman is a bold lie.”
Hayes defended keeping in touch with Watson after the alleged misconduct.
“I wasn’t sure what I was capable of,” he said. “I could have been physically assaulted. He could have hit my business. So I had to protect myself and my business. So it seemed appropriate to me. Did I see him again after that? No. Did I turn it around? Yes. ”
Hayes explained that Watson “wanted me to do a little V-motion in his pelvic area. So go from my stomach to my thighs, back to my stomach. I kept massaging and I did what I could. he asked until his penis kept touching me repeatedly as he did so. He was moving his penis back and forth as my hands moved as well. “
He said he intentionally caused his penis to touch his hands.
“At some point, he ejaculated,” Hayes said. “That was mortifying, embarrassing and disgusting.”
Both the women and Buzbee, who were dismayed that Watson received an NFL record, secured a $ 230 million contract fully guaranteed by the Browns after they acquired it in a jeans trade. The Browns, who beat four teams for Watson, lost six draft picks, including three in the first round to him and one in the sixth round.
“It’s like a big ‘sinking you,'” Solis said. “That’s what it feels like. We don’t care. It can run and throw, and that’s what matters to us.”
Hayes said, “He was sick to me. I felt he was being rewarded for bad behavior.”
Buzbee said: “I don’t think the team cares what Deshaun Watson could have done in a massage session. And in my personal experience with the NFL, I don’t think they care either.”
O’Brien asked Graham, who spent about eight minutes in a video call with O’Brien on Monday morning after Watson’s team initially refused to be interviewed, why the audience would believe a man versus 22 women .
“They’re 22 women,” Graham said. “He is a lawyer. There is only one lawyer who was willing to take on these cases. And as we know from Ashley Solis’ statement, Mr. Buzbee was not the first, probably neither the second nor the third lawyer to go to. “But it was not because he had merit, but because he would use these cases to increase his follow-up on social media and, frankly, to participate in programs like this.”
O’Brien asked Graham about Watson having sex with three of the massage therapists when he said he was looking for nothing more than professional services.
“Well, in every massage, I will tell you that it was, only with the intention of a professional massage, and only those three cases in which sexual behavior, consensual sexual activity, occurred after the end of the massage. massage session, “Graham said. . “And Mr. Watson has testified and insists that this sexual activity was initiated by the plaintiff in each case.”
O’Brien asked Graham if Watson still regretted it.
“As he stated in his statements last week, yes, he doesn’t regret it because he didn’t do anything wrong,” Graham said. “He didn’t do anything wrong with these massages. And yet, in your first question,” How can you be innocent? “I think the real question is,” What evidence is there of guilt? “
Hardin, who toured the media before the HBO play, released a video shortly before.
“No one really wanted to deal much with the fact that two different grand juries found that there were no criminal acts,” he said. “The grand jury decides the probable cause, there is some basis for believing that a crime has been committed, either a crime or a misdemeanor. And these two grand jurors found no probable cause to believe that any crime had been committed.
“This should have been very influential because there were originally allegations that force was used against these women. It turns out that only three of the 22 lawsuits involve any allegation of force and then, when they were investigated by of law enforcement and presented to a grand jury, it was found that force was not used.There was no evidence of a crime with any force.
“As we have said, as Deshaun has insisted under oath, each of these three occasions was consensual and instituted by women. But in the other … 19 cases there was no sexual activity. And Deshaun has already given nine depositions, now 11, and has sworn under oath that there was no sexual activity except these three incidents, and they were consensual. “
Hardin told Cleveland.com on Friday that they will not review the notion of resolving civil lawsuits until the NFL decides on his discipline.
Meanwhile, Watson is fully involved …