Art Briles is continuing to make news for all the wrong reasons.
Paula Lavigne of ESPN.com reports the former Baylor football coach backed out of apologizing to Jasmin Hernandez, according to attorney Alex Zalkin. Hernandez was raped by former Baylor football player Tevin Elliott in 2012. Briles is alleged to have covered up students’ reports of sexual assault.
Hernandez filed a lawsuit against Baylor University, Briles, and former athletic director Ian McCaw for their handling of the situation. ESPN.com reports a mediation was held on Friday in hopes of reaching a settlement, but ultimately one didn’t come to fruition.
ESPN reports Briles attorney Ernest Cannon filed a motion in an attempt to be able to fight the lawsuit independently instead of with Baylor University. Zalkin told Outside the Lines that Cannon reportedly called Hernandez after the motion on Thursday, and promised that Briles would see Hernandez and “apologize to her and her family,” the following day. That plan all changed once Briles settled his wrongful termination suit with Baylor.
Cannon released the following statement to KWTX saying he wouldn’t agree to a settlement as long as he’s a joint defendant with Baylor.
“Mr. Briles does not wish to settle the Hernandez civil rights litigation and does not consent to any settlement in that case or in any other case in which (he) is jointly named as a defendant,” Cannon said in the letter filed as an exhibit with the motion.
“It’s terribly unfortunate what happened to (Hernandez) and Briles is incredibly sorry for what she’s been through, but he did nothing wrong,” Cannon told KWTX Thursday.
“Those that did should make it right,” he said.
The last sentence is particularly icky, given Briles was fired for allegedly covering up a sexual assault scandal.
Zalkin claims Briles used the threat of helping Hernandez as leverage in his negotiations on a settlement.
“[Briles] used the threat of helping Jasmin in her lawsuit against Baylor as leverage to negotiate his wrongful termination claim against Baylor,” Zalkin said. “He doesn’t care about victims. He never cared about victims. He’s using victims. He used them to help build up his football program, and now he’s using Jasmin to leverage more money out of Baylor.”
Neither Cannon or Briles went to the mediation the following day. Zalkin said no explanation was offered.
Now that Briles has reached a settlement with Baylor, it’s clear he doesn’t want to have to deal with Hernandez’s lawsuit. But, considering his role in the scandal and his acknowledgment of the situation, the least he could do his apologize to Hernandez. This case is tremendously sad.
[ESPN]
