Lawyers Make It Rain

Watering restrictions are in effect for Adam "Pacman" Jones.

He is going to have to divert the rain to lawyers' fees that are surely about to mount. Las Vegas authorities charged Jones with two felony counts of coercion. Jones already employs a squadron of lawyers around the country to duck all of the accusations, investigations and requests for questioning. Now that he's actually been charged with something, costs are going to mount, especially if the Las Vegas case makes it to trial.

For what it's worth, the coercion charges seem pretty flimsy. The coercion charges are based on Jones allegedly attacking club employees. Yet I wonder why the district attorney didn't file assault charges, which is the far more obvious charge based on the allegations. Is the coercion charge an attempt to link Jones to an incident without much substantiation? Is the district attorney merely being conservative in the charges? Are witnesses making allegations against Jones in hopes of a civil pay day later?

Because you know lawyers gotta do what they gotta do.

The Las Vegas district attorney has to consider the legal issues, i.e., whether Jones actually broke the law. He's gotta consider the practical issues, i.e., whether the expense of the investigation and trial best serves the public interest. And that attorney's got to contend with the political issues. The most notable victim of the Las Vegas incident, Tommy Urbanski, is paralyzed and he certainly deserves justice. Charging an NFL star will send a message to the community that the district attorney is taking the case very seriously and will not stop until Urbanski, other victims and the community generally are avenged. Whether or not the district attorney will accomplish that with a conviction of Adam Jones remains to be seen. In the interim, he's gotta be keeping his fingers crossed that Jones will at least agree to a plea so the district attorney can score some sort of conviction.

Nevertheless, Pacman's going to end up broke no matter what as his legal bills continue to mount and he's not collecting any paychecks next season. No more rain. Just drought. Maybe Jones is realizing the severity of his financial situation. The AJC reports that he is Tennessee working out. He better be. He's got to get back to work as soon as possible. And he better be praying that the Titans don't void his contract, potentially forcing him to play for the less than the million plus he's scheduled to receive under his current contract. Otherwise, Jones' lawyers will take a lien out on his ass. And he won't get a table dance for his trouble.