James Pearce Jr. has informed the Atlanta Falcons that he will not report for voluntary workouts on Tuesday, a league source confirmed Monday.
Pearce’s status with the team has been in limbo since Feb. 7, when he was arrested following an incident with former girlfriend Rickea Jackson, who plays for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Pearce was arrested after allegedly hitting Jackson’s vehicle several times with his own and trying to block her access to the Doral (Fla.) Police Department and has been charged with felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felony fleeing and eluding police, felony resisting an officer with violence and misdemeanor stalking. He is scheduled to go to trial on May 4 and could face jail time.
The Feb. 7 incident was part of a tumultuous, multiyear relationship between Pearce and Jackson, according to a petition for injunction for protection against dating violence Jackson filed on Feb. 9.
“James appears to have an underlying mental disorder, and he is violent,” she stated in the petition. “I am in fear of my life, and I believe, if this Court does not assist me with this issue, James will kill me.”
According to Jackson’s petition, Pearce threatened to kill Jackson, threatened to put a bag over her head and “verbally and physically abused” her on multiple occasions prior to the Feb. 7 incident that led to his arrest. After an incident in which he “snatched” her cellphone away and pulled her hair, Jackson told Pearce she wanted to end the relationship, she stated in the document.
“James did not listen to my request and instead went on a never-ending campaign of threats, physical assaults, and abuse against me,” she wrote.
At one point, Pearce offered Jackson $75,000 to meet with her and $200,000 to remain in a relationship with her, according to Jackson.
Pearce’s case has a status hearing scheduled for April 21 and a docket sounding scheduled for April 23. The sounding will be the final chance for a plea agreement to be reached in the case. Predicting how much jail time Pearce could face if convicted on his charges is difficult because of Florida sentencing calculation guidelines that account for a wide range of mitigating factors, such as whether the defendant expressed remorse or was not in a sound state of mind.
The NFL’s personal conduct policy can impose penalties on Pearce regardless of the outcome of his criminal case. It states that in cases of felony battery and dating violence, “a first violation will subject the violator to a baseline suspension without pay of six games, with possible upward or downward adjustments based on any aggravating or mitigating factors.” A second offense “will result in banishment from the NFL,” and the player can ask for reinstatement after one season, according to the policy.
Pearce’s situation “remains under review” by the NFL, according to a league representative. The terms of the personal conduct policy allow the league to conduct its own investigation independent of law enforcement, but the league representative declined to say if it had opened its own investigation into Pearce. If the league does investigate and find credible evidence of similar behavior prior to this year’s incident, that could be considered an aggravating factor under the policy and result in increased discipline.