Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lynch not charged with felonies

from WGRZ channel 2

Marshawn Lynch's attorney and the lead detective on the case tell 2-On-Your-Side that the Bills running back will be charged with misdemeanor gun possession following his arrest in Culver City, California last week.

Lynch was arrested last Wednesday in Culver City California near Los Angeles.

Detective Ryan Thompson tells 2-On-Your-Side's Adam Benigni that he presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney Thursday morning, and that Lynch will be charged with three misdemeanors.

A spokesperson for the DA could not outline the charges, saying the paperwork had yet to be filed and they were not ready release any information. Lynch's attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach says he believes it to be three misdemeanors all on gun possession. Schwartzbach offered this initial comment:

"I'm not pleased that Marshawn was charged... but if he was going to be charged I'm pleased it's a misdemeanor... I haven't seen a police report or charging documents, but I'm certainly pleased Marshawn wasn't charged with a felony."

The National Football League says it's still waiting for all the facts of the case, and that they will be evaluated "under the NFL's policies."

Lynch could face League discipline for the incident. It's not clear at this point if the NFL will consider him a repeat offender, given the hit and run incident we was involved in last spring in Buffalo.

The Bills have issued a statement declining comment until all the facts are gathered. Head Coach Dick Jauron was asked about the Lynch situation at the NFL combine Thursday morning in Indianapolis.

"Well, you never like to see any Bills names or really an NFL name in the news in regard to those kind of incidents. Marshawn has retained a lawyer and the organization has made a statement."

Earlier in the week, Culver City police captain Dave Tankenson offered details of what led to Lynch's arrest. Takenson said police approached the black Mercedes Lynch and two others were sitting in it was parked suspiciously with the engine running, and that the car didn't have proper license plates.

"They (officers) knocked on the window of the car. Someone unrolled the window. They saw three people in the car and they could smell a strong odor - marijuana coming from the car. They had the occupants exit so they could further investigate to see if there was any marajuana in the car. What they found were four, not marajuana cigarettes - what they call blunts or swisher sweets that appeared to contain marijuana in them," says Tankenson.

Tankenson says neither Lynch nor the other two individuals were charged with possession of marijuana because they could not determine who was smoking, or whom the cigars belonged to.

It was during the subsequent search that police say they found a loaded gun in the car that they determined belonged to Lynch.

Lynch's attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach wouldn't comment on specifics, but did says he finds it "unfortunate that some persons have chosen to provide one side of an issue when defense counsel hasn't been provided with any information."

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