Legal analyst explains nuances of Antonio Brown lawsuit

Michael McCann, a legal analyst and staff writer for Sports Illustrated, shared some of the finer points regarding the ongoing Antonio Brown situation.

Most of Patriots Nation – and for that matter, most NFL fans as well – are waiting with bated breath to see what happens next in the ongoing Antonio Brown controversy. Ever since news first broke on Tuesday that Brown had been implicated in a lawsuit alleging rape and sexual assault by the freshly-acquired star receiver, the New England Patriots and the NFL at large have been scrambling to react to this development.

On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated legal analyst and staff writer Michael McCann joined “The Jim Rome Show” via telephone to offer his expertise and perspective on the matter. In a clip of the interview, host Jim Rome asks McCann why Brown’s accuser – his former trainer and college friend Britney Taylor – didn’t go to the authorities when the three alleged incidents occurred in 2017 and 2018.

McCann explains that according to Taylor, she was so “traumatized” by what happened between them that it took a while for her to come forward with this lawsuit against Brown. McCann also uses the word “terrorized” to describe the state Taylor claims to have experienced in the wake of the assaults, further rationalizing her fear of not going to the police to report the incidents immediately.

It’s certainly not uncommon for women, or for any victims of domestic abuse or assault of any kind, to resist going to the authorities right away to report their assailants. Research shows that oftentimes the victims are terrified of the potential ramifications that could come from turning their abusers in, and therefore it often takes weeks, months, or even years for them to come forward with their accusations of assault.

On the flip side, Brown and his legal team have announced their intentions to countersue Taylor on all accounts, pleading his innocence in the civil suit of all alleged charges, and instead suggesting that Taylor and her family are merely looking for an easy financial windfall by levying these accusations against him. The term Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, used to describe the situation was a “cash grab.”

McCann seemed to suggest in his interview that Brown’s defense case is strengthened by the fact that Taylor chose to bring a civil lawsuit against him, as opposed to a criminal lawsuit, which would have prompted a proper investigation by law enforcement. The implication is that if Taylor planned to go public with her accusations against a star NFL player anyway, why wouldn’t she then go to the authorities at that point, unless she didn’t want the claims to be properly investigated?

He offers a hypothetical rebuttal from Taylor’s legal team, suggesting that Brown could enjoy bias or favoritism from law enforcement because of his status as a celebrity. Ultimately though, he goes on the record as saying the following:

"“It may help Brown to argue that if this was a truthful, a fully truthful claim, that she would have alerted law enforcement. But she’s going to say, “I was so traumatized by what happened I wasn’t in a position to do that.””"

Whether or not Antonio Brown ends up playing for the Patriots this week against the Miami Dolphins is still very much up in the air. He was definitely spotted at New England’s first practice of the week on Wednesday, however, wearing a temporary No. 1 jersey during warm-ups and team stretching.