A Brown County judge rejected the victim’s request to permanently seal evidence in Josh Jacobs’s case and referred the matter to Hobart/Lawrence police, which will handle new public-records requests. The ruling does not mean the records will be released immediately.
The ruling delays a potential NFL decision on Jacobs. Before it, one reason for the league’s delay was its desire to review surveillance video that the criminal report says captured part of the May 23 incident at Jacobs’s home in Green Bay. Jacobs was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list Aug. 30; if he is suspended, games missed on the list would count toward the suspension. The collective bargaining agreement sets a standard six-game suspension for a domestic-violence case, though it can be longer depending on severity.
Judge Marc A. Hammer had issued a temporary order to seal the evidence on Sept. 10. Jacobs pleaded no contest that day to the misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property. He was convicted of battery and fined $1,000; for the property-damage charge, he agreed to a deferred-judgment agreement requiring no contact with the victim, restitution, counseling and one year of supervision.
