By Jeff Birren
Sports Litigation Alert last covered the legal drama surrounding former college and NFL assistant coach Randy Hanson right after he lost his appeal seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that required him to arbitrate his disputes with his former employer, the Oakland Raiders, and its then-head coach, Tom Cable (see: “Raiders Secure Victory as Appeals Court Requires Assistant to Arbitrate,” SLA, June 26, 2015). Hanson was one of four assistant coaches who attended a meeting with Coach Cable in 2009; he left the meeting with a broken jaw. He did not return to work for months, while seeking to have the local district attorney charge Cable with battery.
Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein said Hanson spoke to the police at the end of September: “[t]he interview he gave was inconsistent with the original short statement he made (at the hospital the night of the incident) leaving out significant facts” (Napa County District Attorney Press Release, October 22, 2009).
Then, “within the past week and a half, Mr. Hanson showed up unannounced at the police department and made a statement to the effect that since the Raiders had not given him what he asked for, he would not fully cooperate with the prosecution” (Wire Reports: “Napa DA: No Charges against Raiders Coach Cable in Alleged Assault,” October 22, 2009). The district attorney’s press release stated that Hanson gave a reporter an interview with statements, “some of which were inconsistent with previous statements” (Napa County Press Release, October 22, 2009). Hanson returned for a follow-up interview on October 21, 2009 but “failed to clear up significant inconsistencies in his prior statements” (Id.). The next day, the district attorney decided not to press charges against Coach Cable.
At a press conference that day, Lieberstein stated that “Hanson’s testimony proved much less credible than that of the other three men in the room at the time” (Phil Barber, The Press Democrat, “Napa County DA Will Not Bring Charges against Raiders Coach,” October 22, 2009): “[a]nd I will tell you that each one of them, when they spoke of what happened, we felt were very candid, were very credible” (Id.).
As to Hanson, Lieberstein stated: “something happened, but even he does not know how it happened. I don’t even think he has a good idea. . . . Under the facts and circumstances, it would be a miscarriage of justice to pursue criminal charges” (Wire Reports, “Napa DA: No Charges Against Raiders Cable in Alleged Assault,” October 22, 2009).
Hanson returned to work in December and filed his lawsuit on February 23, 2010. As previously reported in the June 26, 2015 article, the Raiders moved to compel arbitration. Hanson lost, was sent to arbitration, lost there on the merits, and tried unsuccessfully in the Superior Court to set aside the arbitration award. He appealed. Before it could reach the merits, the Court of Appeal noted that Hanson had appealed from the order denying his petition to vacate the award, but not the judgment entered against him on April 17, 2013. Since he was appealing a non-appealable order, the Court of Appeal decided to “deem his notice of appeal” “to be a premature notice of the judgment.” Oral arguments were made on April 8, 2015. The Court of Appeal issued a 17-page unpublished opinion on April 15, 2015. The author of the opinion was Justice Martin Jenkins, a former NFL player. It affirmed the order denying the petition to set aside the arbitration award and granting the petition to confirm the award.
Hanson then turned to his last hope, the California Supreme Court. He filed a petition for review on May 27, 2015. The Raiders, but not Cable, filed an opposition, and Hanson filed a reply on June 26, 2015. The Supreme Court denied the petition for review a scant 12 days later, and the case was deemed complete on July 10, 2015.
That is only half of the story. Randy Hanson continued his coaching career after he left the Raiders. In 2011, Dennis Green, head coach of the Sacramento Mountain Lions, hired him as an assistant secondary coach. In April 2012, Head Coach Tim Walsh at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hired Hanson as an assistant coach in charge of the secondary (Cal Poly website). At the time Hanson was 44 years old. All went well for approximately four months.
On August 3, 2012, Coach Walsh asked Hanson to entertain some boosters at Mr. Rick’s in Avila Beach (Hector Beccerra, USA Today, Ex-Raiders Assistant Coach Randy Hanson on Trial for Assault” (April 24, 2013)). Later that night, he was involved in an altercation. Specifically, he was alleged to have smashed a beer bottle into the face of another man. Hanson was arrested and “charged with two felonies: assault with a deadly weapon (the beer bottle) and battery with serious bodily injury” (Scott Gleason, USA Today, “Former NFL Coach Arrested for Smashing Beer Bottle on Man,” August 25, 2012). He resigned from Cal Poly on August 17, 2012 (Id.).
Hanson went to trial in April 2013. One witness testified that Hanson “suddenly smacked (James) Kelsey (the victim) with a beer bottle. Kelsey’s nose was broken, and he suffered a concussion” (Beccerra, USA Today, April 24, 2013). Hanson testified that he was so intoxicated he couldn’t remember several events from that night: “What I am saying is that I don’t know what I don’t remember” (Id.). That is hardly surprising as the Deputy District Attorney Sandra Mitchell told the jury that Hanson had 10 glasses of wine that night. “We have a lot of evidence of how drunk he was,” she said, adding that he didn’t recall falling out of a limo or stumbling on a dance floor. “And he didn’t remember anything.” (Patrick Pemberton, thetribunenews.com, “Lawyer in ex-Raiders coach Trial Says Assault Accusers Are Liars,” April 26, 2013). He did remember striking Kelsey with the bottle because he “was trying to get away” from Kelsey (The People v. Randy Allan Hanson, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, 2d Crim. No. B249297. September 2, 2014, at 2). In response, Hanson’s lawyer argued that both the victim and the key witness were “co-champion liars” (Id.).
The jury apparently did not agree, as Hanson was subsequently convicted of a felony battery charge (Cynthia Lambert, thetribunenews.com, “Ex-Raiders Coach Is Found Guilty in Pismo Beach Beer-Bottle Attack,” April 29, 2013). He was also convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge (The People v. Randy Allan Hanson, California Court of Appeal 2d Crim. No. B249297 at 4). The Superior Court placed Hanson on probation for three years and issued a three-year criminal protective order prohibiting Hanson from contacting the victim, Kelsey. Hanson appealed the validity of the criminal protective order.
Briefing on the appeal was completed by May 8, 2014, and both sides waived oral argument. The Court of Appeal also disagreed with Hanson’s position, that is, that the Superior Court lacked the power to issue a criminal protective order. It issued a four-page unpublished opinion, which ended by stating: “Kelsey was the victim of a violent assault. The condition and order were directly related to Hanson’s offense and were intended to deter future criminality. There was no error. The judgment is affirmed” (Id.).
The similarities between the two cases, one civil and one criminal, is so striking that it brings to mind the old question: Why read fiction? When Hanson testified in his criminal case, he made the link between the two cases explicit, testifying “that if he struck Kelsey, it was because Kelsey had taunted him earlier in the night about the incident with Cable and then threatened him (Beccerra, USA Today, “Ex-Raiders Assistant Coach Randy Hanson on Trial for Assault,” April 24, 2013). Both went through the California court system, and overlapped in part; both cases involve assistant coach Randy Hanson. They were on-the-job situations, involving a serious injury to the head, and allegations of criminal assault and battery. In both cases, the district attorney had to make an assessment of credibility. Finally, in both instances, Hanson was found to be less credible. In Napa, the district attorney found that Hanson’s “testimony proved much less credible than the other three men in the room,” and in Avila Beach, the jury rejected the argument of Hanson’s counsel that the victim and adverse witnesses were liars. The consequence is that in Napa no charges were brought, and later Hanson lost the arbitration against the Raiders and Tom Cable. While in San Luis Obispo, Hanson was convicted of the very charges that he had alleged against Cable.
Today Hanson remains a convicted felon on probation and his career as a football coach may be over. One can only hope that his legal entanglements are over and that he has a brighter future.
Birren is the former general counsel of the Oakland Raiders
