Chris Cook acquited of all charges, will rejoin Vikes

[pikestabber]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82..._headline_stack

[creepworm]

That helps in the secondary, he looked serviceable at the very least when he played.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Only a matter of time before this guy screws up again... this is the second time hes slithered his way out of trouble. I have no idea how he beat this one.... If he truly hit a woman, i have no interest in chearing for him ever again.

Some team would have picked him up anyway, had we dumped him though. Hes pretty lucky the vikings secondary is completely inept, thats the only reason he still has a team at the moment

[leech~~]

Wow! That's great. I was really all "Choked" up that he would miss next season!

[zepman]

Wow! That's great. I was really all "Choked" up that he would miss next season!

+1

[reinhard1]

i remember the police report stating bulging eyeballs and a bloody head and more. well she recanted i guess and life goes on. i would think this "real man" would be traded down the line. good luck.

[Snag]

I heard that the fight started over who got the longer lap dance. No joking.

[zepman]

i remember the police report stating bulging eyeballs and a bloody head and more. well she recanted i guess and life goes on. i would think this "real man" would be traded down the line. good luck.

A jury of 12 of his peers said he was innocent of ALL charges. Police report was entered into the trial. All physical evidence was entered, also.

At what point do you believe the woman over the man? He was ACCUSED of doing something terrible to a woman...no doubt.

Is he a nice guy...no. Do you let your daughter date him...no.

"Remember" doesn't mean squat here...it's all been said and tried in a court of law. 12 people said he was innocent...he's not going anywhere.

[MNice]

12 people said OJ was not guilty also. He's an athlete, they don't get convicted very often at all. Lets face it, in this world, fame, fortune means quite a bit.

[leech~~]

At what point do you believe the woman over the man? He was ACCUSED of doing something terrible to a woman...no doubt.

Ya, she was probably asking and deserved it! Just another "gold digger" that needed to be put in line! You can't trust them!

[Scott K]

I hope the Vikings cut him right now, and dont give that pos another dime, or second to claim he is part of the Vikings.

I feel hypocritical because he was proven innocent, but the Vikings dont need to go down that road of characters on their team again.

[LABS4ME]

BIG difference between innocent and not guilty!

Good Luck!

Ken

[Scott K]

Very good point Ken!

[SkunkedAgain]

12 people said OJ was not guilty also. He's an athlete, they don't get convicted very often at all. Lets face it, in this world, fame, fortune means quite a bit.

That's exactly what I was thinking when I read the post before yours. You complete me....errr, uhhh, nevermind.

I know that Foss jumped in on this and gave some good perspective about letting justice determine Cook's innocence/guilt versus the court of public opinion. I believe that too, and that's why I won't grab my torch and pitchfork. After reading the police reports and that his girlfriend recanted, my thoughts are:

- these two are both stupid/crazy

- there definitely was a physical altercation and Cook choked her

- she racanted for whatever reason and the police didn't have the evidence to force a conviction

That's how the legal system works, but I still think that the guy is a piece of garbage.

[reinhard1]

i believe the judge instructed the jurors that if the defended [Cook} was acting in self defense the jury must aquit him of the charges presented. that's how the accuser presented herself in her recantment. she was drunk, she struck him first ect. she also said she did not want to wreck his proffesional carreer according to the Pioneer press site.

so it was hand to hand combat between a 5 foot something gal and a pro football athlete. wonder how the outcome of that would be? i think she got the bad end of the deal. Cook could of just walked out instead of dishing out the punishment as shown in the police report. did the procecution overcharge this bad apple [in my opinion]? perhapst, but i say show this guy the door and let him play somewhere else. i wonder if an ordinary Joe Blow was accused of the same thing and had a public defender if the results were the same. good luck.

[mnviking28]

Unfortunately the way our judicial system has become, justice is determined by how big your name and your wallet are. Any middle class Joe off of the street would have a real trial and real justice, not just whatever his high priced lawyers can twist in a courtroom. Besides, what exactly is a jury of his peers? Twelve NFL players? I don't think that someone that has grown up as being a pampered, priveleged star holds themselves to the same standards as the working public that would have made up this jury.

[Getanet]

I certainly don't want to come off as defending the guy, but if you're an employer what reason do you have for getting rid of the guy? He was accused of something, went through our court system, and was cleared of all charges. He did everything humanly possible to prove he wasn't in the wrong.

Now, the NFL is a little different in that players get cut or traded all the time. The Vikes could easily get rid of him and use any number of reasons. But I'm fairly certain they won't because all NFL teams value talent more than character.

[nofishfisherman]

Unfortunately the way our judicial system has become, justice is determined by how big your name and your wallet are. Any middle class Joe off of the street would have a real trial and real justice, not just whatever his high priced lawyers can twist in a courtroom. Besides, what exactly is a jury of his peers? Twelve NFL players? I don't think that someone that has grown up as being a pampered, priveleged star holds themselves to the same standards as the working public that would have made up this jury.

I really don't think he got off becuase he is a star or professional athlete. If he did then you're basically saying that a jury of 12 average citizens was so star struck by Cook that they couldn't bring themselves to convict him. The lawyers and judge don't determine his final fate, the jury does. I just don't believe that a jury would be that in awe of a average football player who they probably wouldn't even recognize if he sat down next to them in a bar.

The only reason people think stars get off easier is because their trials are the only ones that make the news. How many other run of the mill domestic cases do you see get the kind of coverage this trial got? The same is true for all the celebrities busted for drug offenses. People think these celebs are getting off so easy but thats only because the average person has no real concept of what sort of penalties are actually handed out in most of the cases since none of them ever make the news unless its some big name defendant.

In the Cook case I don't know who started the fight but they were both wrong. I belive she admitted in court that she still has one of Cook's dreaslocks that she ripped off his head that night, so for sure she was an active participant in the fight. If a jury who heard all of the evidence and heard all the testimony found him not guilty then I guess I'm going to have to trust that they made the right decision. In the end I'm not sure if they could have done anything else considering she recanted most of her complaint against Cook plus after the evidence showed it was likely a two way fight.

Now I also should say that Cook should have still found a way to avoid the fight, no matter what he made a mistake but I'm not going to light the torches and sharpen the pitch fork just yet.

[mrklean]

Didn't Brandon Marshall's gf stab him and nothing happened to her?

[Getanet]

Marshall is being accused of punching a woman in the face at a club last week. The Bears were aware of the accusation before trading for him, so it didn't bother them too much.

[mnviking28]

So what you are saying nofishfisherman is that Cook got the same treatment and trial with his team of lawyers as the average guy would have got with the public defender? I highly doubt that.

[Scott K]

Money may have bought his freedom, but I dont think his star status did.

[LMITOUT]

Guilty or not, the entire episode shows serious character flaws and he should have been kicked to the curb a long time ago. To celebrate that "he's back on the team" is pathetic and sickening.

[reinhard1]

as far as star status, i could be wrong but i thought i heard on KFAN one day that he played in something like 10 games and had 0 interceptions. i know there are other stats one could have but i'm just a Sunday Viking fan and this guy was only in his first year. as far as the trial, as someone else said, innocent is different than not guilty. good luck.

[TR21HP]

mnviking, take a trip through the Hennepin county judicial system and see if only the rich get good lawyers. In most cases if the County is prosecuting it's in the hands of a number of attorneys on staff with Hennepin County. The accused gets his choice of very good, if not great attorneys who are in a pool to defend these people. So basically what you have is an overworked, case loaded, county attorney going against one of the top private attorneys with all the resources in terms of paralegals doing all the research for him. If you've ever been in court and have witnessed a good attorney manipulate the jury you know of which I'm talking about. Many cases that are solid are sometimes broken down by a good attorney and the results are sometimes very disappointing.The prosecutor is asked to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and most times all that opposing attorney has to do is create that doubt and the case is lost. To say only the rich get that sort of treatment is false.