A jury has found Jeff Gladney not guilty of assaulting a woman in Dallas, Texas last year.
Gladney, 25, was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a felony domestic violence charge last year, which was followed by the Vikings, who drafted Gladney with the 31st overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, to release him.
Gladney turned himself in to Dallas County authorities on April 5 in connection with an incident days earlier, in which he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend. That led to the indictment, with charges accusing Gladney of domestic violence for the alleged assault.
The victim also filed a civil suit, saying Gladney yelled at her to unlock her phone, pulled her hair and punched her, choked her and slammed her face into the dashboard while driving down the freeway. He also exited the highway to stop at red lights, during which he would beat her again, according to the suit.
The suit claims Gladney, after turning himself in, bought her a Tiffany necklace to try to convince her not to press charges, and showed up to her house in July trying to get her to delete text messages.
Gladney did not report to training camp with the Vikings and sat out the entire 2021 NFL season while his legal matters unfolded. He is now a free agent and can sign with any team once the new NFL league year begins March 16.
Gladney’s agents, Brian Overstreet and Rodney Williams of the United Sports Group, issued the following statement following Thursday’s acquittal.
“First and foremost, this has had a real impact on Jeff Gladney as a person. These situations have very real consequences for the young men involved. This has been a challenging time for Jeff mentally, spiritually and athletically. So, we applaud Jeff for having the courage to stand and fight for his freedom versus these false allegations. We further hope this will encourage other athletes in the future who have been falsely accused, blackmailed or persuaded to provide hush money to make these type of situations go away, to now take a stand and defend themselves as well. As I stated previously at the beginning of this case, we have always believed in Jeff Gladney’s innocence. We sincerely thank and appreciate the jurors of Dallas County for their open minds, service and taking their time to see justice instead of a professional athlete. Unfortunately, Jeff has lost a year of his career. We sincerely hope that the NFL will take a page from the criminal justice system going forward and truly believe these guys are innocent until proven guilty. Today, Jeff is in a good place, and we look forward to engaging with NFL teams about furthering his career at the appropriate time. Out of respect for the process, we will have no further comments at this time.”
