While sifting through the suddenly-constant updates in the Ben Roethlisberger sexual assault case, I came across an item from Gary Mihoces of USA Today titled “Analyst: ‘Just no way to prosecute’ Ben Roethlisberger case.”
My first thought was to see who the analyst is, and to understand why he or she believes that there’s “no way to prosecute” Roethlisberger. As it turns out, the “analyst” represents one of the two off-duty police officers who moonlight as Ben’s bodyguards.
“That tells me what I’ve thought all along,” Michael Santicola said regarding the news that police had withdrawn a request for DNA evidence. “There’s just no way to prosecute this case. There’s no crime.”
Santicola, who represents Anthony Barravecchio, is hardly an “analyst.” Santicola is an “advocate,” because his client eventually could be charged as an “accessory.”
Consider the most recent report from ESPN’s Kelly Naqi, who writes that one of the two Big Ben bodyguards was blocking the path that led to the bathroom in which the alleged incident occurred.
Another attorney with whom Mihoces spoke, who has no apparent connection to the case, offered a different view. “DNA only becomes important if the person that’s been accused said, ‘Look
I was nowhere near the girl, we never had any physical contact and
she’s making all this up,'” said Atlanta lawyer Page Pate.
That’s the point we’ve been making. There’s no need for DNA evidence if, as has been reported, Roethsliberger admitted to engaging in sexual contact with the alleged victim.
More importantly, there’s no reason to regard as persuasive or unbiased the opinion of a lawyer who has a client with an obvious interest in seeing this thing go away.