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Adrian Peterson Isn’t Going To Jail, Hires Roger Clemens’ Attorney Anyway

If you haven’t heard already, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was arrested this weekend and charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest, stemming from an incident at a nightclub in Houston. But don’t worry, Vikings fans: there’s very little chance he’s actually going to go to jail. We’ll get to that in a second.

Following the arrest, he sent out these tweets:

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”WC

— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) July 8, 2012

Thank you for waiting for the facts. Truth will surface.

— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) July 8, 2012

An interesting detail going forward: Peterson hired Roger Clemens’ defense attorney Rusty Hardin to work his case. This strikes me as very peculiar, since Peterson’s charge, a misdemeanor crime of resisting arrest, would not land most people in jail in Houston, where the crime occurred. Per Chernoff Law, this is how Houston interprets resisting arrest:

Should an individual be criminally charged with [resisting] arrest, they will be facing a Class A misdemeanor – this carries with it fines up to $4,000, as well as a prison term for up to a year. If the resistance was done with a deadly weapon, the offense is considered to be a third degree felony and carries a prison sentence from two to ten years and a fine of up to $10,000. For this reason, if you are facing charges for resisting arrest, it is highly recommended that you find an experienced Houston criminal attorney to help protect your legal rights.

So, to sum up: there’s about a one percent chance AP would have done any actual jail time, but he hired Roger Clemens’ high-profile attorney anyway. We suppose it doesn’t hurt to play it safe.

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