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Napa County DA Gary Lieberstein said his investigators could not find enough evidence that Cable committed a felony assault on his former assistant Randy Hanson. The DA said his investigators found "There were no blows or punches thrown at or near Randy Hanson, nor were any verbal threats made by Tom Cable toward Mr. Hanson."
The DA also outlined the events of the day that occurred on August 5, 2009. He said there was a discussion about Hanson's future in a meeting room in Napa. He said Hanson was sitting in a chair with his feet on the table; Cable became angry and rushed toward Hanson. At that point, another coach jumped in between, Cable bumped that coach, who bumped Hanson's chair causing him to fall to the floor and fracture his jaw.
"There was indeed a fracture that did occur in this case, but it is our conclusion, based on all the statements, that that was not the result of any intended act by Mr. Cable. Under the law, we have to prove that act is willful and we do not believe that we would be able to sustain that standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in front of a jury," said Lieberstein.
The DA said a big factor in their decision was Randy Hanson's failure to report the incident initially and his prolonged refusal to speak with police and once he did talk, there were conflicting statements.
Hanson's attorney, John McGuinn, spoke about the DA's announcement and said, "If you want to commit assault, move to Napa. That's the place to do it. This man's jaw was broken. There's no question about that and people's jaws don't get broken accidently."
McGuinn went on to say he still plans to file a civil action against both coach Cable and the Raiders, on behalf of his client for assault.
The Raiders' reaction
Coach Cable spoke to ABC7 right after the Raiders concluded practice at 3 p.m., but that was 30 minutes before the official word came down from Napa that no criminal charges would be filed in this case.
Cable said at the time, he had no idea what was going to happen. Cable has had little to say about this situation in the past two months, ever since news of the alleged attack first broke in the media. Cable was still dodging questions on Thursday when Hanson's name came up, but said that he was looking forward to this matter finally being resolved.
"I coach this team. That's my job and I've really been focused on it. The fact that I believe in what's right, that's really all I can say. I trust it. And in terms of mentally where we're at, we're excited about Sunday and I think that's the best way to put it. We're excited about moving forward.
When asked if he believed that there is any distraction amongst the players, Cable replied, "I don't believe so. Again, we haven't talked about a lot because it's not an issue that they need to be concerned with. Their issue is getting better as a football team and we've kept that as the focal point."
This afternoon the Raiders released this statement: "The Raider organization waited patiently for a comprehensive legal process to conclude and now this matter has been resolved. Our focus has been and remains on the New York Jets."
This matter is not quite over since Hanson will file a civil suit and the NFL could still impose some sort of penalty against the Raiders head coach if the commissioner decides that Cable did indeed break the league's personal code of conduct.
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