The breaking sports news out of Charlotte, North Carolina, today is of a very different variety than the news cycle out of Chapel Hill. Prosecutors in Charlotte today announced that the Greg Hardy domestic violence charges have been dropped, as the accuser of the Carolina Panthers’ defensive end failed to appear in court.
Hardy had been accused last year of domestic violence by Nicole Holder, his ex-girlfriend. Although Hardy was scheduled to begin his appeal hearing Monday, Holder had not made herself available to help the prosecution’s case, so they were forced to drop the charges.
Before Panthers fans begin to cry foul over a conspiracy theory, it appears that Holder’s lack of assistance was anything but secretive. Instead, it appears her failure to offer support was intentional.
While announcing the Greg Hardy domestic violence charges had been dropped, the Charlotte district attorney’s office indicated that Holder and Hardy have reached some sort of civil settlement. The agreement led the DA to believe Holder had “intentionally made herself unavailable to the State.”
Prosecutors hadn’t been able to serve Holder with a subpoena and were thus unable to force her to testify. Interestingly, Holder’s civil attorney refused to help prosecutors identify his client’s location. Prosecutors had not spoken with Holder since November.
“Without her testimony, in this particular instance, the State could not proceed,” the district attorney’s office said Monday.
Hardy’s case was one of several high-profile domestic violence issues in the NFL last season. Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was cut early in the season after video tapes surfaced that allegedly showed him striking his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer.
Shortly thereafter, the NFL implemented a domestic violence policy. Hardy was the first official “victim” to that updated policy. Holder was placed on the Panthers’ inactive roster in Week 2 but still received $13.1 million because he’d been given the “franchise” tag in February 2014.
