Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass has denied that the club approached the authorities and the NFL in order to get a lenient sentence for Ray Rice following his assault on his wife.
A report from ESPN suggested that the organisation lobbied to push for a lesser punishment on the 27-year-old following the incident in an Atlantic City hotel.
Cass is adamant that the franchise had no contact with the judicial system apart from director of security Darren Sanders's attempts to discover the full facts of the case, and their support for Rice's inclusion in an intervention programme.
Cass told the club's official website: "That statement is not true. In February, Darren Sanders made contact with the police and the prosecutor in an effort to obtain a copy of the video.
"Apart from Darren's efforts, no one from the Ravens ever spoke or communicated with a prosecutor, a judge or anyone else employed by the judicial system in New Jersey regarding Ray Rice, with one exception.
"At the request of Ray's defense lawyer, Ozzie, John and I sent a letter addressed to the Clerk's office in support of Ray's application for pretrial intervention. The letter was largely devoted to describing Ray's extensive efforts in the community. According to the article, our letter was one of 30 such letters."
The Ravens released Rice after footage was released from inside the lift, highlighting the violence involved in his assault on his then-fiancee.
Simon Sinclair
