The charges were dropped … She essentially says it didn’t happen …
I respect all the knowledge you bring Indy but that isn't actually true. She doesn't say it didn't happen, but that "she was the aggressor," and that everything he did, which left visible marks on her body (she had a bite mark on her right forearm, a cut on her right eyebrow, a cut on her temple, a scrape on her left leg and a cut on her left thumb, bruising), was in "self defense." These marks were photographed by the police, there is no denying they happened as a result of that altercation. The only change in the story was she claimed she attacked first and Beard was defending himself.
Of note, Beard told officers he had a recording on his phone proving that he was not the primary aggressor, but when asked to share it with police, refused to do so.
This article has a decent rundown:
https://www.si.com/college/arkansas/razorbacks-basketball-musselman-beard-ole-miss-abuse
And more to the point, anyone who has seen domestic abuse cases knows this pattern. The significant others of abusers stay in the relationship, recant statements, and refuse to press charges all the time. It's tragic. And that's in the cases where there is not a significant financial incentive to recant the allegations, like there is here.
Even if we buy the change of heart, it means that when involved in an altercation with a woman against whom he has a significant size and strength advantage, he responded to physical violence initiated by the woman to the point where she was left with bite marks, bruises, and cuts on her body. I'm sorry but I'm still not cool with that.
Texas did its own investigation, which included the recanting of the statement by Beard's fiance, and still fired him for cause. They had every basketball reason under the sun to keep him and they looked into it themselves, and couldn't bring themselves to do it. Unless I missed something, Beard never did sue Texas for the millions that would have been owed to him if the firing was not for cause.
