Rodney Austin's Agent Pushing For Exoneration, Hopes Lions Will Bring Him Back
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - The Detroit Lions released guard Rodney Austin on Tuesday after his arrest on assault charges, but his agent Mark Magazu said Austin isn't giving up hope he could rejoin the team once the legal process concludes.
Magazu says his client is innocent of the domestic violence allegation filed against him, and says the Lions are open to eventually bringing him back.
"Several days before, I alerted them to the fact that this was ongoing," Magazu said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I wanted them to hear it from us, that we were handling it and I'll keep them posted, and then there was a back-and-forth between [Lions general manager] Martin [Mayhew] and I.
"I think it's really hard for these teams, firstly given the climate and environment with domestic violence in the NFL to wrap their heads around, 'OK, how much of this do we want to be close to, how much do we want to wait out?' So when you ask if it's realistic, I really do think so because, at the end of it, this case is going nowhere. It will be very clear that nothing happened, and once that's the case, I don't see any reason why he couldn't come back."
Magazu said the Lions have communicated that they are open to that possibility.
"What Martin told Rodney directly, and to me, was, 'Go get this fixed, and then we'll take a look,'" Magazu said.
The Lions had no comment on Austin's situation.
The alleged incident occurred April 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, when Yvonne Gill-Sadler called the police and told them Austin pushed her to the floor while she was holding their 9-month-old baby. She also said Austin damaged and took her phone to keep her from calling the police. When police arrived, they found no sign of injury to Gill-Sadler or the child, and Austin was not arrested, and no warrant for his arrest was issued.
Austin's attorney Mark Jetton said in a phone interview Wednesday that it is not clear where Austin was when the police arrived, but he believed Austin was not present, having been advised by Magazu, who was on the phone with Austin at the time of the incident, to remove himself from the situation.
In North Carolina, a person can go directly to a magistrate judge and request an arrest warrant be issued based only on that person's statement. It is a unique feature of the legal system in that state, and Jetton indicated attaining a warrant against someone in that manner is not difficult.
"From my experience, in being a lawyer down here in Charlotte for many years and dealing with these type of cases, it's a very low standard," Jetton said.
Gill-Sadler went to a judge and got a warrant issued against Austin on April 16. Austin was arrested Friday and later released on $2,250 unsecured bond, meaning he did not have to pay that amount upon his release.
Jetton contends the timing of Gill-Sadler requesting an arrest warrant - several days before the start of Detroit's offseason workouts Monday - is indicative that her accusations were retaliatory in nature.
Magazu said the accusations were fabricated and that Austin never touched Gill-Sadler or their child.
Jetton said Gill-Sadler was unhappy with Austin because he was moving out and no longer paying for items he did when they were living together.
"It was not a healthy dynamic," Magazu said. "They have a child together, and we've been trying to help Rodney figure out a pathway forward for himself. He takes fatherhood really seriously, very seriously, especially given his background. His dad wasn't around, and so he's really been trying to work with us to say, 'How do I make this work? It's not going well.' ... I was aware there was issues in the relationship."
Magazu said the trial date for Austin is June 5.
"We are pushing for the fastest possible," Magazu said. "We want to go to court as fast as possible. So there's no delays, not on our side, because we want this over. This is going to be a very quick trial, and we want to get there quickly."
Jetton and Magazu both stated they understood why the Lions released Austin when they did, rather than waiting for the legal process to play out, and they said Austin feels the same way.
"He understands it," Magazu said. "He doesn't love it, he certainly doesn't like it, he certainly disagrees with it, but it's easy to understand because this is such a massively sensitive issue throughout the whole league. He doesn't strike me right now as angry with the Lions or angry with anybody. He's just telling everybody, 'Listen, let it all play out. Everything will be fine.'"
