Walsh Lawyer: Protect My Client
By DAVE GOLDBERG – 1 hour ago
NEW YORK (AP) — The lawyer for former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh said his client is willing to turn over videotapes he made for the team if the NFL guarantees Walsh protection from lawsuits or other legal action.
Attorney Michael Levy said that to date, the NFL's initial proposals are not sufficient protection for Walsh, who is said to have taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice the day before they played the Patriots in the 2002 Super Bowl. The Patriots won. 20-17.
"The NFL's proposal is not full indemnification," Levy told The Associated Press Friday in a telephone interview from his office at the Washington law firm of McKee Nelson.
"It is highly conditional and still leaves Mr. Walsh vulnerable. I have asked the NFL to provide Mr. Walsh with the necessary legal protections so that he can come forward with the truth without fear of retaliation and litigation. To best serve the interest of the public and everyone involved, I am hopeful that the NFL will do so promptly."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said he's offered Walsh a deal whereby "he has to tell the truth and he has to return anything he took improperly" in return for indemnity.
"No one wants to talk to Matt Walsh more than we do," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday.
"But his demand to be released from all responsibility even if his comments are not truthful is unprecedented and unreasonable. The NFL and the Patriots have assured Mr. Walsh's lawyer that there will be no adverse consequences for his client if Mr. Walsh truthfully shares what he knows. Why does he need any more protection than that?"
Walsh, now a golf pro in Maui, did video work for the Patriots when they won the first of their three Super Bowl after the 2001 season.
Goodell said Walsh was not interviewed as part of the NFL's investigation into "Spygate," which involved the NFL confiscating tapes from a Patriots employee who recorded the New York Jets' defensive signals from the sideline during the opening game of the 2007 season.
As a result of that investigation, New England coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 and forfeited its 2008 first-round draft choice.
Six confiscated tapes and other documents pertaining to the Patriots' taping were subsequently destroyed by the league. Goodell has defended the destruction of the tapes.
Levy, who is continuing to negotiate with the NFL on Walsh's behalf, also objected to NFL security's investigation of his client.
"Sending a former FBI agent to investigate his professional and personal life has not left Mr. Walsh feeling confident that the National Football League simply wants to encourage him to come forward with whatever information he has," Levy said.
Goodell met this week with Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and disclosed for the first time that the taping may have gone back to 2000, when Belichick first became coach of the Patriots. The commissioner said Belichick told him in their meeting last September that he believed the taping was legal. "We agreed to disagree," the commissioner said.
Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee, said after the meeting that he would continue to investigate the taping episodes. He has said he also would like to speak with Walsh.
Goodell said he could reopen the investigation.
"If there is new information that is credible, new material that could be credible that would help us, yes, we'll look at it," he said.
But Eric Holder, a partner in Covington & Burling, the NFL's outside law firm, suggested the NFL might remain reluctant to meet Walsh's current terms.
"No responsible investigator would offer blanket immunity to a potential witness without a commitment that the witness will be truthful," Holder said. "Any witness who refuses to make that commitment doesn't deserve immunity."
NFL Football Writer Barry Wilner contributed to this report.
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I feel the NFL will get rid of Goodell over this, but hope BB is also banished from the league. It is near the end for what was once a dynasty.

POSTED 8:39 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008

SPECTER PRESSES FORWARD, WITH SUPPORT

Surely, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hoped that Wednesday's meeting with Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) was the last chapter in a book that Goodell can't wait to finish. For Specter, however, there still are many pages left.

Specter plans to press forward with his investigation of the manner in which the league handled the Spygate scandal. According to Mike Fish of ESPN.com, Specter claims that he has the support of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter said that Leahy is "prepared to have the committee pay for people who travel and investigate." While that's a far cry from a hearing like the Rocket-and-Pony show that unfolded this week before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, it's a step toward what ultimately could be a full-blown Congressional inquiry.

In our view, it's important for Specter to show that other Senators are on board with his efforts. As we argued on Thursday, Specter's solo act was at its ending point. Though there are questions that still need to be answered, the mission needs to take root with others in Congress before it can be taken seriously.

Fish also explains (and we can't recall ever seeing this before) that the materials surrendered by the Pats were destroyed in Foxborough by Jeff Pash and Ray Anderson.

Pash's role in this matter is critical, in our view. Pash, you see, is a Harvard-educated lawyer. He practiced for 13 years with Covington & Burling, the firm that still handles the league's work. And any practicing lawyer (even those who went to far less prestigious schools and work for far less prestigious firms) know that the prospect of destroying potential evidence is a serious matter.

Pash's involvement in the destruction of the the evidence surrendered by the Patriots tends to corroborate rumors (we repeat: rumors) that the materials turned over by Patriots coach Bill Belichick included evidence of cheating by other teams sufficiently widespread to give the league office concerns regarding the potential impact of the evidence on the network broadcasting contracts, which apparently contain language warranting that the on-field competition is real.

Again, that's only a rumor. But we believe that there had to be a very compelling reason for Pash to permit the information to be destroyed. A concern that the league couldn't keep the information out of the hands of the media isn't, in our view, anywhere close to the level that would prompt an officer of the court to disregard the kind of common sense that every lawyer acquires at some point during his or her career.

Two things are crystal clear, other than the blatant cheating by BB.
1. Goodell botched this bad, and will likely lose his job over it. His image and the image of the league he fronts is damaged.
2. There is no separating Spygate from what the Pats have accomplished under BB. The two will be linked forever, and neither mentioned separately.

I predict Goodell takes the fall for all of this, and BB escapes to arrogantly cheat some more. The best thing that Kraft could do is to remove BB from this franchise and begin the rebuilding process of his team and it's image.

I agree, something is going to happen, this thing is NOT going away in the least. It'll will be interesting to see what comes from the lawsuits. And it will be interesting to see what is on Walsh's tapes.

The NFL could take a hit as far as popularity. I the hard core fans aren't going anywhere, but I feel that some casual fans may be turned away. Just my opinion.

It really makes Goodell destroying evidence look more and more fishy at this point. Makes it seem like he destroyed things to hide things he didn't want anybody finding out about.

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Long Live Sports Outlaw!

Michael Levy, the attorney for former Patriots employee Matt Walsh, said his client is willing to turn over videotapes he made for the team if the NFL guarantees legal protection.

Currently, Levy and the NFL are not seeing eye-to-eye on the finer points of Walsh's legal protection. Meanwhile, Former Ram's player Willie Gary has filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit against the Patriots organization for taping the Rams practices before the 2002 Super Bowl. This story is not going away any time soon.

The fact that the NFL is trying to cover THIS up is very disconcerting for everyone who suspects collusion/foul play with Goodell's destruction of the original evidence. The commish is clearly trying to sweep it all under the rug.

I think it is funny that the NFL has had people following Walsh around. I think Goodell is getting more and more worried as the days go by on this situation.

Hope we can get a new commish soon....

The cover-up is ALWAYS worse then the crime.....If Goodell is really covering somethign up, it will eventually come out and he'll be screwed!

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Banner by Mark Clapper

RedLasso - Bob Ryan on Spygate

some strong words

"In my entire coaching career, I've never seen another team's practice film prior to playing that team," Belichick told the newspaper. "I have never authorized, or heard of, or even seen in any way, shape, or form any other team's walk-through. We don't even film our own. We don't even want to see ourselves do anything, that's the pace that it's at. Regardless, I've never been a part of that."

Belichick also told The Globe that in his "entire coaching career, I have never filmed a walk-through, our own. I've never been on a staff that has filmed a walk-through. I'm talking about when I was a head coach. As an assistant, I've never seen a head coach film a walk-through the day before a game."

Pioli told the newspaper Matt Walsh was terminated in January 2003 after discovering Walsh secretly tape-recording conversations between himself and Walsh. Pioli told the newspaper he learned of the recorded conversations because "two other employees saw him doing it, and I checked after, and heard it on the tape myself."

Michael Levy, Walsh's lawyer, disputed Pioli's story on Sunday night and, after speaking with Walsh, called it a "complete fabrication."

"This is a predictable and pathetic effort to smear Mr. Walsh's character rather than confront the truth about the Patriots' conduct," Levy told The Globe.

ESPN - Belichick denies Patriots taped Rams' 2002 Super Bowl walk-through - NFL

This is gonna get good. Maybe we will finally see BB say something other than "we are preparing for (insert team)"

For Belichick to go out on record like this, it makes me wonder what might be going on behind the scenes. Walsh has yet to come forward, and there is nothing to force him to do so at this point.

It would be very easy for the Patriots to make it very much worth his while to make everything disappear. A guy like Walsh could very easily deal with being ridiculed publicly if he was to be financially compensated for doing so. If something like this happens though, I hope everybody gets caught red handed doing it.

Glenn's, Gmr......................whats up?

Local radio interview from the local Senator who is standing up for truth, justice & the American way. Worth a listen & includes new developments.

RedLasso - Sen. Arlen Specter on the radio talking about "spygate"

Just got back from an 8 day cruise. I'm trying to catch up on all this.

RC, You've been saying that Belichick needs to answer to this stuff... and now he has.
He took responsibility and gave his reason for not saying more sooner.
I'm not sure what else you want to hear from the guy.

If you look above to Mojo's 2-18 post you'll that the info you are posting is either from there or about what he said there. Nothing new here at all.

Darn, I thought this was over.

The Boston Globe reports the NFL and the lawyer for former Patriots employee Matt Walsh both said Sunday night that "substantial progress" has been made in negotiations to reach a deal that would allow Walsh to come forward with any knowledge or materials he has related to the Patriots' illicit videotaping. "Our counsel and Mr Walsh's attorney have been engaged in a serious effort for some time now to reach an agreement that would permit Mr Walsh to come forward," said a statement e-mailed by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "In the last seven days, the lawyers have had intensive and constructive discussions regarding some new and promising approaches. They have made substantial progress toward an agreement that will allow Mr. Walsh to be interviewed. Both sides are optimistic that any remaining issues can be addressed successfully and they are committed to reaching a full agreement as promptly as possible. "As Commissioner [Roger] Goodell has repeatedly emphasized, 'nobody wants to hear from Matt Walsh more than the National Football League.'"
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...................and I didn't want to lose my status on the Home page!

The NFL is trying to use the "ignore it and it will go away" approach with this, and it is pretty obvious too.

Source: The Boston Globe

The Patriots are expected to claim that former video assistant Matt Walsh videotaped other teams' signals "on his own."
That is, if Walsh has copies of videotaped walkthroughs and/or signals. The Boston Globe reports Walsh has embellished his online biography and was kicked off the Springfield College golf team in 1995 for playing a "dangerous prank" on a woman. The smear campaign has officially begun.