Rumors about Chase Scanlan, wearer of the fabled #22 on the Syracuse Men's Lacrosse Team, have been swirling around social media in the last few weeks. We now have a pretty good handle on the allegations, and why the school suspended, then unsuspended, and now resuspended Scanlan. An investigation by the Syracuse Police Department and Onondaga County District Attorney culminated yesterday in the charging and arrest of Scanlan, as well as a release of the specific allegations which have landed the lacrosse player in legal jeopardy. Orange::44 used to do a lot of legal posts back in the day, when the major sports programs within Syracuse Athletics used to have regular legal drama. Thankfully, it's been a while. A long while. But here we are. As recounted in great detail in a very comprehensive article by Douglass Dowty on Syracuse.com, Scanlan is charged with Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree (a Class A misdemeanor) and Harassment in the Second Degree (a violation). On Friday, May 7, 2021, Scanlan was arrested, brought through the booking process, held for several hours in jail at the Onondaga Justice Center, arraigned by a judge, and released pending further proceedings. There's a lot there, so let's break it down. Scanlan was arrested because relevant witnesses came forward to give sworn statements to the police, which gave the police/DA the factual basis necessary to determine which charges were appropriate. Once those charges were filed, the police had a legal basis to arrest him. When someone is arrested, they are brought through the booking process -- the police gather pedigree information about the defendant, obtain fingerprints and a photograph, and all of that information is entered into a database along with information about the pending charges. For charges like this where the law does not allow for bail to be set, a defendant would typically be given an appearance ticket and simply sent home with direction to appear in court at a later date. However, given this was a domestic violence case, he needed to be held pending arraignment before a judge, so that the court could issue a temporary order of protection in favor of the complainant. Down here in Chemung County where I work, a judge would have been immediately available for an arraignment, but I guess Onondaga County does things a little differently, and Scanlan was held in custody for several hours before appearing before a judge for arraignment. At the arraignment, Scanlan would have been provided a copy of the charges against him, advised of his rights, served with that temporary order of protection, and then released on his own recognizance with a promise to appear at a later date. The two charges are Criminal Mischief and Harassment. Criminal Mischief is intentionally damaging property belonging to someone else with no permission to do so. Here, Scanlan is alleged to have damaged the complainant's iPhone by dropping it in a toilet, and later throwing it to the ground, breaking the glass face of the phone. Misdemeanor level Criminal Mischief is charged when the damages to the property are not specified in an amount; when damages exceed $250, then the charge could be bumped up to a felony. Most of us have experienced broken phones, so Scanlan got lucky that he wasn't charged with a felony. If convicted, this misdemeanor charge carries a jail term of up to 364 days, or probation up to three years, or simply a one-year conditional discharge. The Harassment charge is a violation (a non-criminal offense), where, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm, a person strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects such other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same. The Syracuse.com article explains that the allegations involve Scanlan pushing a woman and, later, holding her down on his bed with a forceful squeeze which ultimately led to bruising her ribs. The police and District Attorney decided they did not have enough evidence to charge misdemeanor assault -- which would require proof of physical injury -- surmising that lingering pain and bruised ribs doesn't meet that legal standard (when, actually, I think probably does). It's not a slam dunk on physical injury, particularly if the victim didn't describe the pain as "substantial," so I guess the close call here went in favor of the accused -- and there's certainly ample evidence to charge Harassment. Harassment carries up to 15 days in jail, or a conditional discharge. Both charges here also carry mandatory surcharges and possible fines. A Criminal Mischief conviction will also result in Scanlan being required to submit his DNA for inclusion into the New York State DNA Databank, so it will be on file forever. When this incident was initially investigated by Syracuse Public Safety (essentially the university police), Scanlan was suspended by the school. However, when criminal charges were not immediately forthcoming, he was reinstated. We've seen much surmising by people that the reinstatement was due to potential liability the school had under Title IX -- essentially that Scanlan might be able to sue the school for lack of due process in his suspension. We won't know for sure because of the privacy protections under federal law, but this seems likely given what we know now -- and the fact that now that criminal charges are pending, Scanlan has been removed from athletic participation. It's frustrating as fans that we didn't quite know what was going on between the initial suspension and the reinstatement. To a large degree, the school's hands were tied, but the messaging probably could have been better. Nobody likes that head coach John Desko said the reinstatement was his call (it no doubt wasn't) but I think the school couldn't really say why there was a suspension in the first place, or why it had to reinstate him (Editor's Note: I believe the Syracuse Unviersity General Counsel was directing much of the advise during this part of the process to the Athletic Department and likely dictated what information to release and at what time to attempt to avoid any liability on the part of the school. Title IX protection is serious and due to the domestic nature of this incident, certain protections are built in for the accused.). But we know for sure now that he can't participate in athletics now that he's been charged. Over the next several weeks, the DA will have to turn over what's called discovery to Scanlan's defense attorney -- things like police reports, witness statements, pictures, video, medical records, basically anything of relevant evidentiary value. His attorney could file certain motions to challenge evidence or even the legal sufficiency of the charges themselves. No doubt there will also be discussions between the ADA and defense attorney about a resolution to the case -- either a plea bargain or possibly a deferred disposition through a diversion program which could ultimately lead to a dismissal. That could require something like community service, alcohol counseling, and/or domestic violence counseling. That's what I would push for if I was Scanlan's attorney, particularly if he has no criminal record and we want to preserve that. However, the ADA on the case will have to weigh that against the interests of the victim in protecting her and making it known to the community that domestic violence is serious and will be dealt with accordingly. Each case is different, and those involved will have to determine what meets the ends of justice. Scanlan is presumed innocent. There may appear to be a great deal of evidence against him, but that presumption of innocence exists unless and until either Scanlan pleads guilty, or a jury unanimously finds him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We should never lose sight of that cornerstone of our legal system. However, Syracuse University and the Athetics Department can and has taken action solely based upon the criminal charges pending, and my guess is that we'll never see Scanlan wearing #22 at Syracuse again.

Labels: Breaking The Law, Lacrosse, Orange44 Lawdogs, Syracuse Lacrosse