Jon Vilma walks from hearing after NFL asks for adjournment

JonVilma
After the NFL asked the players for an adjournment of the appeals hearing, an angry Jonathan Vilma and his lawyer Peter Ginsberg walked out of the appeals hearing today. "It's really a shame," Ginsberg told USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell.

Vilma isn't hopeful of getting his year-long suspension thrown out or reduced. "Roger Goodell has taken three months to tear down what I built over eight years. It's tough to swallow. I have been linked to a bounty and it simply is not true," Vilma told the Associated Press. "I don't know how I can get a fair process when he is the judge, jury and executioner. You're assuming it will be fair, but it's not."

The NFL wants to reconvene the hearing at 1:45 p.m. ET. The adjournment was proposed when the sides bickered over whether the league had turned over the evidence three days prior to the hearing as the CBA requires. Ginsberg complained the NFL didn't meet the 72-hour deadline since the league didn't send the evidence packet until Friday afternoon and not 10 a.m. The NFL apparently interpreted the deadline as three calendar days, which would have meant anytime on Friday.

The NFL proposed the adjournment to give the players the additional time to review the evidence, but that didn't satisfy Ginsberg.

It's unclear whether the three other players being represented by the NFLPA, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Scott Fujita, will return to meet with the commissioner this afternoon.


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(usatoday.com)
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