Judge Rules To Not Open Juvenile Record Of NFL Star

By Michael Owens
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: August 2, 2008

The juvenile court history of New York Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw will remain sealed from public scrutiny, a circuit court judge ruled Friday afternoon.

Also to remain under wraps is the court order that recently landed Bradshaw, 22, of Bluefield, Va., in jail for 28 days on an undisclosed probation violation stemming from his juvenile past.

“I think some things are intended to remain mysteries. This may be one of them,” Giles County Circuit Court Judge Colin Gibb ruled in a teleconference with the Bristol Herald Courier, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and Bradshaw’s attorney. The initial hearing was held Wednesday in Pearisburg, Va.

Gibb’s ruling defeats the Herald Courier’s assertion that both Bradshaw’s file and the sentencing order fall under Virginia statutes that opens some juvenile felony cases to public scrutiny. The statutes allow public access to felony cases involving minors 14 or older.

Bradshaw left the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon on July 13 after serving the initial portion of a sentence sandwiched around the upcoming NFL season. He will return to jail to finish his sentence when the football season ends next year, according to a corrections officer at the jail.

The newspaper argued that Tazewell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Henry A. Berringer and Court Clerk Connie Cheryl Roberts erred by sealing the files.

But Gibb, appointed from outside the region to hear the case, noted that Bradshaw’s juvenile history lacked the felony conviction that would keep the file open. This could mean that Bradshaw was charged as a minor with either a felony or misdemeanor crime and received a suspended sentence instead of a guilty verdict and time in juvenile detention. It could also mean that he was younger than 14 years old when charged.

The judicial ruling comes the night after the NFL announced it had cleared Bradshaw’s probation violation as a breach of the league’s personal-conduct policy.

The “conduct occurred prior to his NFL career. However, his prior history would be taken into account if there are any further incidents,” NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello confirmed by e-mail Thursday.

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