Broncos Receiver Jerry Jeudy Off the Hook for Tampering Bust

This outcome was telegraphed by law enforcement. A few hours after his office tweeted about Jeudy’s bust, Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown stressed during a press conference that the wideout hadn’t been accused of making physical contact with the female victim in the case — the mother of their one-month-old child. Instead, the domestic-violence incident pertained to property: specifically, the woman’s wallet, some medical information about the baby and a car seat, which Jeudy had allegedly locked in a car to prevent her from gaining access to them.

Colorado’s second-degree criminal tampering statute reads: “A person commits the crime of second degree criminal tampering if he tampers with property of another with intent to cause injury, inconvenience, or annoyance to that person or to another or if he knowingly makes an unauthorized connection with property of a utility. Second degree criminal tampering is a class 2 misdemeanor.”

And here’s the state’s definition of domestic violence:

(1) ”Domestic violence” means an act or threatened act of violence upon a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship. “Domestic violence” also includes any other crime against a person, or against property, including an animal, or any municipal ordinance violation against a person, or against property, including an animal, when used as a method of coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or revenge directed against a person with whom the actor is or has been involved in an intimate relationship.

(2) ”Intimate relationship” means a relationship between spouses, former spouses, past or present unmarried couples, or persons who are both the parents of the same child regardless of whether the persons have been married or have lived together at any time.

Brown described the offense in question as a “low-level misdemeanor” punishable by a fine and a maximum jail sentence of six months. And two days later, the victim in the incident formally asked for the case against him to be tossed.

Avoiding a suspension by the league for violation of its personal-conduct policy, as now seems likely, would be important for Jeudy, who’s coming up on an extremely important season. A highly touted first-round draft pick out of Alabama, he’s underperformed in his first two campaigns, notching only ninety catches for just over 1,300 yards and three touchdowns — nowhere near the expected production. Year one was marked by lots of high-profile drops, and he suffered a high-ankle sprain in year two that kept him on the shelf for more than a month.

Off the field, Jeudy has made a number of gaffes. At the NFL combine prior to the 2020 draft, he had to address his proclivity for wearing a Star of David pendant; he explained that some people referred to him as “Jew,” but he insisted that he meant “no disrespect.” He’s also shown a notable lack of discipline on social media — a tendency that made headlines when, as a rookie, he criticized quarterback Drew Lock and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur in tweets that he quickly deleted.

With Lock in Seattle and Russell Wilson as his new quarterback, Jeudy will now have a chance to redeem himself as a player and, more important, as a human being.