Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped the domestic violence case against former University of Miami and Miami Dolphins running back Mark Walton, six months after his most recent arrest — one that might have ended his NFL career.
Walton had been charged with aggravated battery on a person known to be pregnant. The alleged victim? His live-in girlfriend.
The Dolphins moved quickly to cut Walton, who was on a zero-tolerance policy with the team after a string of early 2019 arrests in South Florida. He was actually serving a league-imposed suspension for those incidents when arrested on the most recent charge. The Dolphins quickly released him.
Cops at the time said Walton pushed his girlfriend, five weeks pregnant, against a wall “and punched her several times in the face and head.” Walton denied touching the woman “at any point in time,” his attorney, Michael Gottlieb, said following Walton’s November bond hearing.
“He’s a great young player,” Gottlieb told the Miami Herald on Wednesday. “He came up in a tough area of Miami without a good father figure and he’s had a little bit of trouble. But by and large everything he’s had has been dismissed. I’d really like to see a team take a chance on him. … I know that he can overcome this.”
Walton’s November arrest was his fourth of the year. The previous charges — misdemeanor marijuana possession, misdemeanor battery, reckless driving, resisting an officer without violence and openly carrying a weapon — were either dropped of pleaded down. And even that plea deal was thrown out because a judge made an administrative error.
Walton was also accused of striking his girlfriend, Jasmin Thompson, months before the November arrest, but police never could make a case against him.
Just because the legal case has been resolved doesn’t mean that Walton will be welcomed back into the NFL. Even if a team believes he’s straightened out his act, the league could still administer its own punishment, particularly since he’s been disciplined before. The matter remains under review, NFL Network reported Wednesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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