The story of the 2022 Saints offseason has now become the story of the 2023 offseason: Alvin Kamara has been indicted, so what comes next?
It's an important development in the case stemming from an alleged assault prior to the 2021 Pro Bowl in Las Vegas. Kamara is a co-defendant along with three others, including Bengals CB Chris Lammons, and has a court date scheduled for March 2.
To break down what all this actually means, New Orleans-based defense attorney Craig Mordock joined Bobby Hebert and Mike Detillier on SportsTalk shortly after the news broke to explain some of the finer details.
Listen to the full interview in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Here are some of the key points, as explained by Mordock:
Was this the expected result all along?
“When this happened ... I would’ve put it at 60 to 75% chance that this would’ve been wrapped up before now with Kamara probably writing a check to the victim and maybe doing some anger management or diversion classes and it all kinda getting swept under the rug, so to speak.”
“The indictment — prosecutors do not waste valuable grand jury time on cases where they do not have the cooperation of the victim. ... And based on the comments from [Richard] Schoenfeld today, it sounds like they’re preparing to go to trial on this.”
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If he's found guilty, what should be expected?
“It is probatable. If he’s found guilty, he could receive probation, and I think that’s probably the likely outcome if he does plead guilty to that charge. But I would tell you, the chance of him receiving some jail time is not zero in this case.”
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What will Kamara's attorney actually argue in defense?
“What ... Kamara’s attorney has alluded to prior to today and I think even today, is that I think this is going to be some sort of a self-defense case. But I don’t see how Kamara’s behavior is consistent with a self-defense argument. It does not make a ton of sense, I’ll tell you that. I think it’s going to be a very tough sell to 12 people from Nevada that, yea, this is a self-defense case.”
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Is the Las Vegas DA motivated to prove a point in this case?
“I think that definitely plays into it, and I think in his thought process on this as well, is Las Vegas now has two professional sports teams. It’s likely the NBA is going to put a team there and it looks like the Oakland As may move there, so it’s now going to become a mecca for professional athletes, and not just people who come in for a weekend or whatever. There will be professional athletes living there. And I do think to a certain extent … when a professional athlete commits a crime, they do want to make an example out of him, because it’s obviously a high-profile case. They’re a tourist city just like New Orleans, and they don’t want to have people coming here and hurting other people in casinos or fighting in casinos. That’s bad for business, obviously. I do think that that plays into it, but I would tell you, I think the driver of this is not so much the district attorney as it is the victim and the victim’s attorney, Tony Buzbee.”
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