Bengals Devon Still Accused Of Not Paying Child Support

((HT: Local12/Cincinnati))

If true, one of the feel good stories of the NFL season has just gone down the crapper.

And when Gloria Allred is involved, you know there's going to be a lot of noise surrounding it.

Allred is the attorney for Channing Smythe, Devon Still's longtime girlfriend, who broke up with Still after his daughter Leah was born in 2010. Leah's fight with childhood cancer has received national attention through the Cincinnati Bengals keeping Devon Still on the roster so he could pay for her treatments under the NFL insurance policies.

Now, there's talk that Devon Still has been behind in his child support payments to Smythe. Allred is asking the league to investigate the claim that Smythe hasn't seen any money from Still since August.

An article in the New York Daily News' Michael O'Keeffe brought forth the allegation


Devon Still has released a statement:

"My daughter's battle with cancer has been inspirational to many all over the world. When she gets older, I want her to be able to look back and read about her positive impact on the world, not about the private issues her parents were going through. I am not going to retaliate against the mother of my daughter, and the untruthful reports in the New York Daily News article, by criticizing her character. I am going to continue to allow the court system to handle this matter, as it has been doing these past couple of months."

Family: Brandon Marshall Abused Daughter and Not Investigated by NFL

We aren't quite sure what to make of this.

In light of the NFL's worst week ever and the domestic abuse problems that Ray Rice and others have shown on the league, there may be more.

The family of Rasheedah Watley came forward with noted lawyer Gloria Allred in Atlanta Wednesday afternoon charging Roger Goodell, the NFL and the Denver Broncos (team at the time) essentially let receiver Brandon Marshall off easy after a long history of abusing Watley. He also spoke about a letter he sent to the NFL and how they essentially did not respond to him.

Along with the family, a friend Kristeena Spivey came out and spoke of an incident in 2009 where Marshall is alleged to have rammed her car and threw a concrete brick through the windshield. Marshall had initially been suspended for 3 games, that suspension was reduced to 1 game.

Watley's father Clarence spoke at length about the history between his daughter and Marshall dating back to Marshall's time at UCF in 2006 and supposedly dating back as far as the 8th grade.

Pro Football Talk reminds us what happened in 2009 RIGHT HERE

It should be noted, in 2009, Watley and Marshall's lawyers exchanged e-mails asking for 6-figures to make this all go away and not press charges.

The whole sordid affair was part of an ESPN Outside the Lines episode back in 2009.



For her part, Allred and Watley's father are calling for Roger Goodell's head. For which they can add their names to the list. The question that many people have today though is: Why bring this up now?

Is it the timing?

We don't dispute that Marshall may have done some horrible things and deserved to be punished more effectively 5-years ago. But he wasn't. And Allred and the Watley's may have a legitimate beef here, we don't doubt that either. If Marshall did what he was alleged to do at that time, he most definitely deserved a stiffer penalty. And yeah, more than likely, the NFL didn't handle it well. It's now been documented as to how bad they've handled domestic violence cases in the past.

But why bring it up now?

There have been multiple opportunities to discuss this, to bring it up in the open over the years, before and after this incident took place. And it wasn't. Unfortunately, while a horrible issue that should have been addressed at the time wasn't, bringing it up TODAY smacks of opportunism.

Allred says it's about what the NFL should do in the future.

There are no charges filed here and there are no investigations involved. So why are we now talking about this today? It smells an awful lot like the set-up to a lawsuit.

Here's the latest from the presser
((HT: MyFoxAtlanta))
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And In Other Legal News... It's Civil, But Not In Syracuse

((HT: WSYR-TV))

Former Syracuse ball boys Bobby Davis and Mike Lang maintain they were molested by former assistant coach Bernie Fine. Davis and Lang are now in the process of suing Syracuse University as a civil matter.

Fine denies the allegations, but now a third man has come forward and accused Fine of the same thing.

Davis and Lang have hired attorney Gloria Allred, and at her first press conference, she said that the two men have filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court.

Davis says "it really hurt me to learn coach Boeheim had accused me of lying."

Lang says when Boeheim suggested "my little brother and I were lying" he "felt sick to my stomach... coming forward is one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life."

More when we know more...