Baker, a 22-year-old cornerback for the New York Giants, pleaded not guilty on Monday to four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, as well as to four counts of armed robbery. He and Dunbar, a 27-year-old cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks, turned themselves in to authorities Saturday and were released from jail Sunday after posting bond.
An attorney for Dunbar, Michael Grieco, said Friday that he had affidavits from the same five witnesses whose accounts formed the basis for the arrest warrants. The witnesses recanted their testimonies against Dunbar in the affidavits, according to Grieco.
At a court hearing Sunday, a Broward County prosecutor called the sudden recantations “suspect” and wondered whether the witnesses had been pressured or bribed into changing their stories. Grieco told the Seattle Times that the witnesses came to him and signed the new affidavits “in the presence of a notary.”
“This was not some back alley,” the attorney said. “This was in my office.”
A lawyer for Baker, Brandon Cohen, said Friday on Instagram that he, too, was in possession of “affidavits from several witnesses that dispute the allegations and exculpate our client.” Patrick Patel, another member of his legal team, indicated that those affidavits may be from different people than the original witnesses cited by Miramar police.
“The victims have already recanted against Dunbar, and I wasn’t comfortable going to these victims and getting them to sign papers because they’re already waffling and making up stories,” Patel said Monday to the New York Post.
The arrest warrants said that Baker pulled out a semiautomatic firearm and directed Dunbar and the masked man to take money and valuables from some attendees of the party. Baker also was accused of telling the masked man to shoot someone who had just walked into the Miramar residence, but the man did not. There were conflicting accounts of whether Dunbar was also armed.
Dunbar, Baker and the other man were alleged to have left in three separate cars — a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW and a Lamborghini — that were described as having been parked in a manner that might facilitate a quick escape. That gave witnesses the impression, per the original affidavit, that the robbery was planned ahead of time.
Patel said Baker’s legal team was working on acquiring video that would show the Giants player getting into the passenger seat of his car as a designated driver waited in line with other vehicles to pass through a security checkpoint at the gated community in which the party took pace.
In addition, Patel told the New York Post that far from being part of any dice game or other form of gambling that sparked the robbery, as witnesses had alleged, Baker was playing the “Madden” NFL video game while sitting in another room.
“He doesn’t have anything to do with the ruckus. He didn’t even see it,” Patel said of Baker. “The only thing he sees is out of the corner of his eye a table getting flipped over and everybody running, screaming and yelling. And he’s out. Thank God he bounced.’’
Grieco said Monday (via SI.com) that Dunbar was not even at the residence when the alleged robbery took place.
“I can’t speak to whether or not something happened inside the house,” the attorney said. “I can tell you Mr. Dunbar wasn’t there at the time, if it occurred at all.”
Dunbar, who was traded to Seattle in March from the Washington Redskins for a fifth-round pick, apologized Sunday via social media (per Pro Football Talk) for “any unnecessary distractions that these allegations against me may have caused.”
“In addition,” Dunbar reportedly wrote, “I am very grateful to be apart of a team that supports one another and uphold the credibility of each of its members through adverse situations. Moving forward, this entire situation has taught me how to not associate myself with environments that may mischaracterize my values and who I am.”
Lawyers for both Baker and Dunbar have asked for jury trials, but both have asserted they expect all charges to eventually be dropped. According to NJ.com, future court hearings in the two cases have yet to be scheduled.