BEREA, Ohio — Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, in a statement released Wednesday by his attorney Rusty Hardin, strongly denies the allegations of sexual assault in a civil suit that was filed on Monday.
“Deshaun strongly denies the allegations in the Jane Doe lawsuit filed Monday,” Hardin wrote in a statement emailed to cleveland.com.
“We have asked him not to comment further while this matter works its way through the courts, but are comfortable he will ultimately be vindicated.
“We will be ready to defend this case in court at the appropriate time, but don’t intend to conduct our defense in the media. We would ask that people be patient while the legal process runs its course.
“In the meantime, Deshaun is going to focus his energy and concentration on football.”
Watson will address the media Wednesday during his regular weekly availability.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said during his press conference that “I was not aware of the the allegations” against Watson when the lawsuit was filed.
He said that Watson, coming off six sacks and 17 hits in Sunday’s 33-17 loss to the Cowboys, will play Sunday in Jacksonville amid his legal woes.
Stefanski declined to comment on the case specifically, saying he’ll let the legal process play out.
“Regarding Deshaun’s legal situation, we put out a statement yesterday,” Stefanski said. “I won’t have much to add past that statement. We’ll let due process play out and follow the NFL’S guidelines. We are 100% focused on Jacksonville, a hundred percent focused on going on the road against a good football team.”
The Browns statement on Tuesday said, “We will respect the due process our legal system affords regarding the recently filed civil suit and follow the NFL’s guidelines on this matter.”
Attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents the plaintfill and the 23 massage therapists who settled with Watson after accusing him of sexual misconduct, said he’s tried to resolve this one too.
“This is a serious matter and the lawsuit speaks for itself,” Buzbee said in an email response to cleveland.com. “I have represented this woman for almost a year. Ten months ago, after I had done my due diligence, I reached out to Watson’s legal team in an attempt to resolve this case. In the few times when they actually responded to our emails, we never were able to connect or get a date that was workable to their team. We thus filed this suit.”
Stefanski said he’s not worried about the legal issue becoming a distraction.
“Focused on the task at hand,” he said. “It’s how we operate. We really are concerned about the things that are right in front of us in this building. We concern ourselves with our opponents.”
But the Browns didn’t expect to find themselves back to their $230 million quarterback being investigated by the NFL again for possible sexual misconduct, with that now being the case, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy
The investigation is being led by Lisa Friel, NFL Special Counsel for Investigations, a league source told cleveland.com. Former Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Friel also led the probe into accusations by more than two dozen massage therapists of sexual misconduct on the part of Watson when he played for the Houston Texans, mostly in 2021.
That investigation resulted in an 11-game suspension and $5 million fine for Watson for what the NFL determined was sexual misconduct and other violations of the policy. He was also ordered to undergo extensive mandatory treatment for what the NFL deemed was a disturbing pattern of behavior.
It will be incumbent upon Friel to determine if the incident constitutes a violation of the personal conduct policy, and if so, if it’s egregious and different enough to warrant further discipline.
Under terms of the suspension settlement reached by the NFL and NFL Players Association, Watson wasn’t to be further penalized for new cases that were “the same or substantially similar” to the others. The accusations in this filing are more serious than any of the others.
Friel will attempt to conduct an interview with the plaintiff and will talk to Watson before submitting her recommendation to the league.
McCarthy also told cleveland.com that the Commissioner’s Exempt List is not under consideration because there have been “no formal charges and the league’s review has just begun.”
The Commissioner’s Exempt List, at the discretion of Roger Goodell, enables the league to place a player on paid leave while reviewing his case or unusual circumstances. The player doesn’t count against the active roster, and can’t practice with the team or play in games.
The newest lawsuit, filed in Harris County District Court in Texas, says that Watson met the woman in July 2020, when he still played for Texans. They later arranged to meet for dinner at the woman’s apartment in October 2020, the suit says.
Watson went to the apartment and unexpectedly disrobed, according to the lawsuit. He got on her bed and demanded a massage but Watson became upset with the weak massage, and he sexually assaulted the woman, the filing says.
The filing says the woman worried about reporting the allegations, based on Watson’s star status in Houston.
“She worried that if she reported it she would be subject to humiliation and personal attacks,” the suit says.
Since the incident, she has suffered from panic attacks and nervous breakdowns, according to the suit.
