Accuser a no-show; abuse case against Panthers DE Greg Hardy falls apart
Greg Hardy’s domestic-abuse case was abruptly dismissed Monday because his accuser – who is believed to have reached an undisclosed civil settlement with the Carolina Panthers’ Pro-Bowl defensive end – could not be found to testify.
Prosecutors say they last talked to Nicole Holder, Hardy’s former girlfriend, in November. They say they’ve been searching for her statewide for an undisclosed period of time.
Facebook posts reveal that the former uptown waitress traveled to Vail, Colo., to snowmobile. She shopped in Atlanta on Dec. 22, and the next day she was in Grand Central Station. Just before Thanksgiving, Holder made several posts from the Wilmington area, where she formerly attended college.
But she wasn’t in Courtroom 5370 on Monday morning when Hardy’s second assault trial was scheduled to start. In July, her testimony was key in convicting Hardy last July. Her absence, prosecutors say, made it next to impossible for them to take the second case to trial.
Hardy, who came to court in a dark, pin-striped suit and white $600 Balenciagas tennis shoes, appeared impassive as Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray announced that the charges against the 26-year-old had been dropped. He said nothing, and his attorney, Chris Fialko, would not take questions.
Since November, efforts to contact Holder and serve her with a subpoena have been fruitless, Murray said, despite “extraordinary measures” that included police staking out the addresses where she was believed to be living and requests to relatives to have her come forward. Her attorney, Daniel Zamora, had not cooperated, Murray said.
More importantly, Murray said Holder told them last fall she did not want to participate in another trial of her ex-boyfriend, and that his office had learned that Holder had reached an independent settlement with the NFL player. It is not known if the two developments are connected.
Zamora did not return a phone call Monday.
In July, with Holder at his side, Zamora said Hardy’s conviction “sent a strong message to the people of Mecklenburg County that it doesn’t matter if you’re an average Joe or if you’re a professional athlete that plays for the Carolina Panthers: If you assault a woman and you communicate to that woman that you will kill them, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be convicted.”
Speaking briefly with reporters after the case was dismissed, Murray said his office remains committed to prosecuting domestic abuse cases. In many instances, prosecutors go to trial without the cooperation of victims, who may change their minds on bringing charges or fear reprisals from their attackers.
This time, however, Murray alluded to apparent inconsistencies between Holder’s initial statements to police on the morning of May 13, and the testimony she gave at Hardy’s first trial. Without her in court to testify in person, Murray’s office said it recently decided that “the state has determined it cannot go forward.”
Hardy has been on the NFL’s exempt list since mid-September. He played in only one game in the 2014 season, but was paid more than $13.1 million.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday that Hardy’s status remains unchanged until league officials “fully review the matter.”
Late in the day, the Panthers said the team was aware that charges against Hardy had been dropped. “Greg remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, and the NFL has advised us to allow it to complete its review under the Personal Conduct Policy,” the statement read. “There is no change in his status at this time.”
Hardy becomes a free agent next month.
Hardy was convicted last summer of assaulting and threatening to kill Holder – one of several abuse cases involving professional football players that dominated the headlines for much of the NFL season.
Holder’s allegations included description of an enraged Hardy throwing her into the bathtub of his uptown condominium and tossing her onto a futon covered with semi-automatic weapons. Hardy later turned in about 10 weapons at the order of a judge.
The player appealed the ruling and was assigned a jury trial. It was delayed once and rescheduled for Monday in December.
Murray’s office entered a dismissal order Monday morning and it was accepted by Gaston County Superior Court Judge Robert Sumner.
Murray declined to answer questions at the courthouse. The Observer sought additional information from his office, including details about the search for Holder, their decision to drop the charges and whether prosecutors considered launching a witness-tampering investigation when they learned of the settlement between Holder and Hardy.
Witness tampering is a felony under North Carolina law, but it is also a charge that is rarely prosecuted, recently retired Superior Court Judge Richard Boner said Monday.
That’s because investigators need firm proof of a “quid pro quo,” that money changed hands to keep a witness from testifying in a criminal case. A civil settlement could have the same net effect but not meet the requirements of a tampering charge, Boner said.
“If you have proof of quid pro quo, then you’ve got some possible criminal liability. It’s the district attorney’s call. There’s a fine line,” Boner said.
As Hardy left the courthouse, at least one reporter asked whether he’d left the impression that he paid Holder off. He declined to comment on that and other questions.
Fialko did the same. “Don’t make me do a Marshawn Lynch on you,” he told the Observer as he left the courthouse, a reference to the Seattle Seahawks player who refused to talk with the media at the recent Super Bowl.
Hardy and his entourage drove off in a Honda Accord.
This story was originally published February 9, 2015 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Accuser a no-show; abuse case against Panthers DE Greg Hardy falls apart."