Attorney: Manziel deal may be ‘tricky’
Text about troubled QB’s assault case is accidentally sent to AP
An attorney handling Johnny Manziel’s domestic violence case expressed doubts about the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback’s ability to stay clean and said he was given a receipt that shows Manziel may have spent more than $1,000 at a drug paraphernalia store just 15 hours after he was involved in a hitand-run crash, according to a lengthy text message accidentally sent to The Associated Press.
Defense attorney Bob Hinton’s text indicated Manziel’s legal team was seeking a plea deal with prosecutors, but suggested that could be tricky.
“Heaven help us if one of the conditions is to pee in a bottle,” the attorney wrote.
Hinton also wrote that he had been emailed a “heads up” receipt “which purports to reflect” that Manziel made a purchase of $1,018.77 at a Gas Pipe store at 12:03 p.m. on Tuesday, less than a day after his crash. A manager at a Gas Pipe location not far from where Manziel’s crash was reported declined to discuss whether he bought anything there. A sign in the store says ID is required for purchases above $200.
“I don’t know if the receipt is legitimate or not,” Hinton responded when asked about it by the AP. “I just know that it doesn’t say Johnny’s name on it anywhere that I can see. It’s just that somebody in that store, I guess, circulated that to the other store managers and employees saying, ‘Guess who was here today and spent this amount of money.’ That’s all I know.”
The errant text was sent Wednesday after the AP sought comment via text about Monday night’s crash. When asked about the text, Hinton said he had meant to send it to cocounsel Jim Darnell and was unaware the AP had received it instead. He insisted the contents were protected by attorney-client privilege and threatened to sue if certain details were published.
Baseball
Nathan Bannister and two relievers pitched a four-hitter, Arizona had 14 hits against what had been the best pitching staff in the NCAA Tournament, and the Wildcats beat Oklahoma State 9-3 at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The Wildcats forced a Saturday rematch, with the winner advancing Monday to the best-of-three finals.
Golf
Jon Rahm and Billy Hurley III shared Quicken Loans National lead, three strokes ahead of Vijay Singh going into the weekend at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland. Rahm and Hurley went shot-for-shot to reach 11 under. Hurley shot a 6-under 65, and Rahm bogeyed the 18th hole for a 67. He led Thursday after a 64.
Estaban Toledo and Gene Sauers each shot 9-under 63 on Friday to share the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ inaugural American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wisconsin.
Japan’s Ayako Uehara matched the course record with a 9-under 62 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Arkansas
Motor sports
Doug Kalitta set a track elapsed-time record and raced to the Top Fuel qualifying lead in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. Kalitta had a pass of 3.719 seconds at 327.51 mph during the last qualifying session of the day. He has two No. 1 qualifying positions this year. His Kalitta Motorsports team is based in nearby Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Olympics
Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal has declined an invitation to play for the U.S. in the Rio Olympics.