XPost: alt.crime, alt.sports.football.pro.phila-eagles, alt.sports.football.pro.ne-patriots
XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.ny-giants

New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker will be prosecuted in
Florida on four counts of robbery with a firearm, Broward State
Attorney Mike Satz announced Friday. If convicted, Baker faces a
mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in state prison.

Baker originally was charged with four counts of armed robbery
and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. The
decision to prosecute came almost three months after an incident
in Miramar, Florida.

According to the original arrest warrant, Baker and Seattle
Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar were accused of stealing
money and watches while armed with semiautomatic firearms. The
warrant stated that Baker intentionally threatened victims with
a firearm.

Baker's lawyer Bradford Cohen didn't think the prosecutor's
office had enough to go through with the case.

"Knowing that you have admitted liars -- admitted liars, there
is no way to cut around it or change the story. They are, at
best, admitted liars and convicted felons. You have four guys
that are convicted felons and admitted liars. You filed based on
their word against a guy that has no criminal history, always
gives back to his community," Cohen told ESPN. "I wish I could
think what they're thinking but it's an impossibility. It's such
bad judgment that you can't even put yourself into their shoes
to imagine what he was thinking to file this case."

Broward prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against
Dunbar because of insufficient evidence.

"Quinton is gratified," Dunbar's attorney, Andrew Rier told ESPN
on Friday. "He thanks God. He thanks his family. He thanks his
defense team and he thanks the Seahawks for sticking with him
the whole time."

"I think [the decision] speaks for itself," Rier added. "I think
they did not have enough information to proceed, and they came
to the just conclusion, and I appreciate the time and effort
that they put into it to come to this conclusion."

Dunbar could still face a suspension based on recent NFL
precedent. The league suspended Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran
Reed six games last year over a 2017 incident in which he was
not arrested or charged due to insufficient evidence.

Baker and Dunbar were placed on the commissioner's exempt list
at the start of training camp. Baker had been told to stay away
from the Giants' virtual offseason program this spring. The
Seahawks, however, had Dunbar participate.

Baker, 22, is unlikely to play another down for the Giants. He
was a first-round pick last year out of the University of
Georgia. The Giants traded up for Baker despite at least two
teams telling ESPN last spring that there were red flags about
him. He then had a rocky rookie year: Two players described
Baker as a "handful" last year, and he was benched late in the
season after then-coach Pat Shurmur called him out in front of
the entire team for a lack of effort.

The Seahawks acquired Dunbar for a fifth-round pick in a March
trade with Washington. Dunbar is scheduled to make $3.25 million
in base salary with another $250,000 available in per-game
roster bonuses in the final year of his contract, none of which
is guaranteed.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, multiple witnesses
said that at one point during the incident, Baker ordered
another suspect wearing a red mask to shoot an individual who
was just entering the party.

The case has taken twists and turns since. The witnesses quickly
signed affidavits changing their original story, and the New
York Daily News reported that a search warrant indicated that a
witness in the alleged robbery oversaw a payoff to the victims
at the office of former Dunbar attorney Michael Grieco.

The league has said in recent weeks that the matter remains
under review.

Asked about the NFL's position on Dunbar in light of Friday's
news, a league spokesperson said, "We have been monitoring all
developments in the matter which remains under review."

Baker and Dunbar are not known to have any previous criminal
history.

ESPN's Brady Henderson contributed to this report.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29615161/giants-deandre- baker-charged-4-counts-robbery-seahawks-dunbar-not-charged

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