Jeff Hardy to Plead Guilty?

[attackgypsy]

I lurk a lot, but I feel compelled to say a few things.

One, the DA HAD to offer him a major deal for him to plead guilty to anything.

Two, innocent people plead guilty every day. Why? Because fighting bankrupts you. Can you imagine how much his lawyers have cost him over the last year? And unlike civil cases, your lawyer's fees aren't paid for by the opposition if you win. You're out the money. Never mind the stress that this puts you through.

Three, if he is planning on pleading guilty, he'll drop the belt. How it happens, I don't think TNA really cares, so long as he drops it.

Four, using RVD, Hogan, MCMG and others as examples... yes, they've been vocal and have had videos done. But have they been convicted of anything while holding a championship belt? No.

Just my 2 cents. I'll go back to lurking now.

 

[Miz_Mark]

Well, RVD got busted for pot when he was WWE/ECW champion. Which is why they took the belt from him.

I'm sure whatever Hardy is pleading guilty to will not involve any jail time, and I would say it's more than likely that he will remain TNA champion.

 

[mvalley]

There are a lot of interesting facts leading up to this case:

- The case has been pushed back multiple times so each side could present a better case.
- Several of the charges against Hardy were already dropped.
- We all know that Matt and Jeff put out a video dissing C.M. Punk while at the same time looking very much out of it (and raising suspicion).
- There have been rumors questioning Jeff's physical and mental state. In addition, there has been rumored concern on TNA's part about this.
- It is well known that Jeff had two strikes against him leaving the WWE.

It is interesting that this rumor has sparked up about Jeff pleading guilty. Interesting in that:

1. You'd expect something like this Jeff would want to keep under his hat until his next hearing.
2. Jeff is currently the TNA world champion and any news like this would draw instant attention (even more so than before).
3. You'd think that TNA, if they had even the slightest idea that Jeff was going to be pleading guilty to any of the more serious charges would not place Jeff Hardy anywhere near the main event let alone being their world champion in the biggest angle currently going on within the company.

I think we'll all just need to wait and see. I could see if this were all true Jeff doing it because:

1. He wants to get it done with after over a year of this going on.
2. He feels pleading guilty to the lesser charges will help him with having the more serious charges removed.'
3. He knows he is now a father and wants to be there for this child.

However, this is all speculation in whether this is true. If it is true, and it is for the more serious (jail-time) charges, TNA certainly has a problem on their hands. They will need to get the world title off Hardy as fast as possible but unfortunately they don't have any major feuds built up enough so that it will feel right for Hardy to drop the title. Furthermore, they don't have anyone else who is built up enough as a heel to take Hardy's place. Finally, this would kill what was a potentially interesting showdown between Anderson and Hardy. And they just had a tournament so having another one would hurt, not help the title.

Ultimately though, we'll need to wait and see. There is so much guessing go on right now that it is hard to know what is fact and what is fiction.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Onto Jeff, if the story is true - then there has definitely been plea bargaining somewhere and I think that TNA management have known for some time what the outcome will be and that is why they finally put the belt on him.

I totally agree. One thing that Jeff Hardy has going for him is money; at least enough to hire some high priced lawyers that get people out of messes that would get the rest of us sent up for a few years. I believe that a deal was structured months ago and it calls for no jail time, leading TNA to feel safe in placing the title belt on him. Yes, we're just hearing of this now, but the deal was probably in place for quite awhile. Then, his lawyers started forcing delays in the process to string everything out (no pun intended) until this late date.

As for TNA, I think it would be hypocritical of them to take the belt from Jeff or punish him in any other way. They knew who he was when they hired him and they've made a practice of welcoming several other guys with prior substance problems. To try and pretend they were in the dark on this would look foolish......and might upset their other drug users, too.

 

[LSN80]

Are DA's suppose to comment on things like this?

They do all the time. Not sure if you caught the Ben Roethlisberger case, but the DA came out and announced that no charges were going to be filed against Ben...."Unfortunately." "We don't prosecute morals", he went on to say. Part of being a DA is having to deal with the media, especially in higher profile cases. Hardy's would definitely be considered that.

There is no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Sure there is. After the Eddie Guerrero death, and more3 importantly, the Chris Benoit death, the WWE was heaped with negative publicity. It didn't help draw in viewers, it exposed the holes in their Wellness Policy. The biggest reason, according to Vince McMahon, that the Wellness Policy is what it is? "Public Relations". Vince received the brunt of the criticism as the head of the company, and to calm down the criticism, he implemented a more stringent Wellness Policy. A guilty plea for the TNA World Heavyweight Champion in a drug case is nothing but bad publicity for TNA.

Something like Matt, Beth and his baby being used to have him realize the error of his ways.

He obviously didnt learn the erros of his ways over the years with Matt and Beth. If anything, Id argue that they've been enablers in Jeff's life rather then positive influences, especially Matt. They obviously didnt serve as positive instruments of change during his Wellness Policy violations within WWE. And look, if youre a drug adict, having a kid isnt going to change anything if you're hooked.

Obviously him pleading guilty was likely something in the works out a long time ago, and kept under wraps by his camp and the District Attorney's office, hence all the delays. they probably were trying to work out some area of compromise that would avoid Jeff jail time but still hold him accountable in some way. I would think TNA has been aware of this as well, or they wouldnt have put the belt on him. I don't see there being any jail time for Jeff, and if there is, it will be quite minimal.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Jeff Hardy has been the only thing worth watching as far as Immortal goes. The rest of the stable is so uninteresting, and Hogan and Bischoff as leaders just don't do it for me.

TNA has backed themselves into a corner with this one. They put so much stock into Jeff being this main event mega heel, but all of that could go to waste. Sure, Hardy might not have to serve a lengthy sentence if he's convicted, but it doesn't look good if you're World Champion is in the slammer. I can't see TNA trying to spin this in a positive way. I really, really hope they won't try to portray Hardy as this bad ass rebel who's about to go off to jail. I'm sure some fans will cheer, because let's face it, some people out there love to cheer guys who are in trouble. But are a few cheers really worth this very bad publicity? I know TNA is doing everything shoot style now a days, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

TNA should probably start thinking about how to get the title off of Hardy, because having a potential jail-bird as your World Champion isn't a good thing.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

No two ways around this — if he's going to be facing any amount of time behind bars, regardless of whether it's the local county jail or a super-max, he should not retain the title. The last thing TNA needs is yet another tournament for a vacated title right now — especially because this isn't like a freak-injury type situation where the champion would have been injured and forced to relinquish the title.

The scarier thing here though is that if he's to be sentenced anytime soon it'll absolutely kill the "Immortal" championship angle, as well as a significant amount of the draw behind Immortal themselves. Not to mention it'll almost undoubtedly rush a title change to one of TNA's fighting faces right now, which means either Anderson or Morgan would be the next TNA World Heavyweight Champion.

Anderson I feel could run with it, but winning in this fashion would be a very poor bloom for what has otherwise been TNA's greatest build in years, and Morgan IMO is simply not ready for it yet.

 

[MB1025]

The thing we don't know is is what charges is he pleading guilty to. Just to give everyone the heads up Jeff Hardy and his lawyer, before pleading guilty, would have cut a deal on some or all the charges against him. As far as I know the article only says he is to plead guilty and then lists all of his charges. That doesn't mean he is pleading guilty to all of them. Also if they already have a deal cut, which is very likely, he knows what his punishment is already. With that said the real question is when did he find out what his punishment is and if there is jail time why didn't TNA take the belt off before the tapings of Impact?


I guess as of right now I am not worried, but I live in NC and in this state if you are guilty on some of those charges ( Some don't apply here ) you have mandatory days in jail regardless of any deal you cut. The lowest amount of those days are 45 and that is the minimum.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

Whatever is going on, its not good. Now, bear in mind, when you are in the entertainment business, there's that old saying "Any publicity is good publicity." Why do you think Lindsay Lohan has millions of paps following her when she's out? They want to see what she'll do next. Trust me, whatever the outcome of this for Jeff, it will be a ratings coup for TNA. Bischoff, and Hogan aren't as dumb as we'd like to think they are. They will find some way to spin this and use it to their advantage whatever the legal outcome will be for Jeff. That's the nature of the PR machine.

 

[MarkoMan]

I think that Jeff should retain the title. Then TNA openly says something about Hardy doing jail time with "his" belt... you know, that custom made one...

And then they go looking for that old belt... oh look! Eric Young has it! Automatic new champ!

Obviously, that's a bad idea, but I do think Jeff should keep the belt for as long as he possibly can. It can make this whole "anti-Christ of wrestling" stuff more believable, because that's one thing in TNA I find very, very hard to believe in.

 

[schaeffershawn]

Just reviewing some of the facts of the American justice system. Jeff is facing a number of felonies. If a plea has been reached it is for lesser charges and lesser jail time thereby giving the DA a win and saving the state of North Caorlina money.

If he pleads guilty on any of the felonies he will face at least a mininum prision sentance. It will be at least that because the Judge will still have to agree to the terms of the plea, or in other words the ammount of punishment Hardy will face. Sometimes the judges agree with the DA, other times the judge likes to prove he is the boss, or make a statement especially if he is up for reelection.

If his charges have been droped to misdemenors he may have some county jail time, fines, community service or any combination thereof. It is likely the drug rehab will be part of his sentance because judges like to throw that in.

For TNA any plublicity like this si damaging because Hardy is not Mike Vick. He is not a man who served his time and is seeking a second chance. TNA is likewise not the Philadelphia Eagles giving a second chance to a man who has served his time. The public backlash will hurt the company just like Benoit killing himself and his family hurt the WWE.

 

[schaeffershawn]

The thing we don't know is is what charges is he pleading guilty to. Just to give everyone the heads up Jeff Hardy and his lawyer, before pleading guilty, would have cut a deal on some or all the charges against him. As far as I know the article only says he is to plead guilty and then lists all of his charges. That doesn't mean he is pleading guilty to all of them. Also if they already have a deal cut, which is very likely, he knows what his punishment is already. With that said the real question is when did he find out what his punishment is and if there is jail time why didn't TNA take the belt off before the tapings of Impact?


I guess as of right now I am not worried, but I live in NC and in this state if you are guilty on some of those charges ( Some don't apply here ) you have mandatory days in jail regardless of any deal you cut. The lowest amount of those days are 45 and that is the minimum.

As I said in another post and to clarify what you said. Jeff and his lawyer will have an idea of what the DA will recommend to be Jeffs punihsment, however it is to the judge's discretion if he/she accepts the plea and the reccomandations of the DA. Ultimately with a guilty plea the sentancing will rest with the judge.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The scarier thing here though is that if he's to be sentenced anytime soon it'll absolutely kill the "Immortal" championship angle, as well as a significant amount of the draw behind Immortal themselves.

There's a strong possibility that Hardy's sentence will begin before the angle with Immortal/Fortune has played itself out. From the latest stuff that I've read, Hardy is scheduled to plead guilty on January 20. It was his next court appearance anyhow so this was just more convenient for everyone concerned. If there is going to be some jail time involved or probation in which Hardy isn't allowed to leave the state, it's highly unlikely that his sentence will begin right then and there. It's not uncommon for someone pleading guilty to be given a certain amount of time to get his/her personal affairs in order before the date the sentence is due to begin. Hardy has made all his court appearances as far as I know, he hasn't made any attempts to flee the country or anything while he's been out on bail it's not out of the question for Hardy to be givin a month or so to get his ducks in a row.

There's just too many unanswered questions at this time to really have any solid idea as to what's ultimately going to happen to Hardy. If Hardy winds up not serving any actual prison time, then his lawyer managed to work out a hell of a plea bargain for him. Hardy is charged with multiple felonies after all and I don't think that something along the lines of community service is something that the DA would agree to, depending upon the strength of his case against Hardy. Seeing that Hardy has been willing to take a plea, that in and of itself suggests that the strength of the DA's case was enough to make Hardy nervous.

 

[MattMorrison]

Like many people already stated, TNA is too small of a company for the media to care about this story. If Hardy was still in the WWE, then there would be a problem. TNA should make Hardy loose the title before he pleads guilty. Most likely, he will be sentenced to jail. But if he's not, I believe TNA will come up with something to keep him out of the spotlight until things blow over. There are a few names right now that can take the title and run with it regardless of the outcome.

 

[shattered dreams]

Can people quit comparing Jeff Hardy to murderers or deaths? The difference should be obvious. Also, if you are going to quote what I said about publicity, the full context would be a nice place to start. Unless TNA has some important advertisers that care, if Jeff avoids jail I think he should keep the title. TNA has zero publicity as is and if he doesn't go to jail I fail to see how any of this changes the perception of Jeff Hardy.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

These charges occurred before he was working with the company anyway.

And you think that makes TNA look good? They hired a guy who was on trial for drug trafficking. I think it makes TNA look ridiculous.

Can people quit comparing Jeff Hardy to murderers or deaths?

Agreed. What he did was wrong, but it wasn't Benoit-wrong.

And as far as plea agreements go, you usually hear about those before they take place. It's usually unofficial, but details always seem to leak out. If he takes a plea deal, I don't think you take the title off of him. I sure as hell wouldn't go as far as Shattered, and turn it into a storyline, but I wouldn't can him for that. If Hardy was hired with these charges hanging over his head (which was a stupid thing to do), you really cannot fire him if he doesn't have to serve jail time.

And why can't TNA fire him? They have no drug policy. I think TNA should implement a drug policy right now. If Hardy tests dirty, fire his ass on the spot. But with TNA having no history of firing people for drug use, they really can't start with a guy who isn't even going to serve prison time. A drug policy is needed though, and soon.

 

[Kenny Powers]

The man will be a convicted felon regardless of jail time. If he has a good lawyer then maybe he can spend time on house arrest or do public service. It depends on the state of North Carolina. I have heard that his charges carry at least 45 days to 6 months mandatory jail time. It doesn't look good for Hardy or for TNA. Hopefully TNA does the right thing by stripping Hardy of the title. It does ruin the whole Immortal angle, but TNA should have thought about it before they put Hardy as the leader of Immortal.

I don't want to see another title tournament like we have seen earlier this year. Hopefully either Anderson or RVD will be the new champion. If Hardy goes away for a little while, TNA desperately needs to find a new leader main event heel.

 

[schaeffershawn]

Like many people already stated, TNA is too small of a company for the media to care about this story. If Hardy was still in the WWE, then there would be a problem. TNA should make Hardy loose the title before he pleads guilty. Most likely, he will be sentenced to jail. But if he's not, I believe TNA will come up with something to keep him out of the spotlight until things blow over. There are a few names right now that can take the title and run with it regardless of the outcome.

You may be correct that TNA is too small, however, their parent company Panda Energey is a large publicly traded multinational cooperation. Additionally Spike TV is a relatively large National cable channel. The point being this is bigger then TNA. For example do you know how much flack USA Network got for airing the Chris Benoit memorial show before all the facts were out. They were under immense pressure following that from NBC Universal. That fact is TNA is not as insulated from larger concerns as Dixie Carter would like to think. The cancellation of Reaction should have proven that.

 

[Alex]

Wasn't Kurt Angle in a similar situation a year or two ago. He was caught with some sort of drug and apparently had beaten up Rhaka Khan and was TNA champ. I don't remember him getting into that much trouble, the possibility of Hardy getting the same is likely depending on what happens.

 

[schaeffershawn]

Wasn't Kurt Angle in a similar situation a year or two ago. He was caught with some sort of drug and apparently had beaten up Rhaka Khan and was TNA champ. I don't remember him getting into that much trouble, the possibility of Hardy getting the same is likely depending on what happens.

There are some major differences. Kurt was not charged with multiple felonies, which carry with them mandatory jail time. Kurt never plead guilty to anything. Kurt still has some mainstream sway being an Olympic Gold Medalist. At most Kurt faced 90 days in jail and fines if convicted which was a huge if.

Jeff is pleading guilty to at least multiple misdemenors, even if he was able to get the 9 felonies dropped. As I said before even if he has the best lawyers in the world who argued it down to a single misdemenor, he will face a combination of at least 90 days, large fines, community service, and drug rehab. It is one thing for TNA to stick by Kurt when he is fighting the charges and claiming innocence. It is quite another for TNA to support Jeff as he pleads guilty to multiple misdemenors and possibly felonies.

 

[clinicallyawesome]

. I have heard that his charges carry at least 45 days to 6 months mandatory jail time. It doesn't look good for Hardy or for TNA. .

This could be a good thing, I think. Especially if it's only for 45 days. Imagine Jeff Hardy, who is trying to get over as a heel after a 13 year face run. Whats going to help his character more, playing Raven like mind games with Morgan and Anderson, or SPENDING TIME IN JAIL?!

If I were TNA, I'd build all of Genesis around the idea that Jeff Hardy may or may not be at the Impact Zone because their is a warrent out for his arrest.

then have RVD call him out at Genesis (unless they have booked the title match by then). In the conclusion of the match, I'd have him head hit the twist of Hate and go up for the Swanton, when the police finally enter the arena. Jeff Hardy Gets distracted enough that it gives RVD enough time to hit him with a spin kick and frog splash. Rvd wins the title, and is celebrating while Hardy is being hauled out of the arena.

Hardy spends the next two months in jail, in real life. They have pre recorded videos "live" from jail to show through out the two months to keep him fresh on peoples mind.

By Lockdown, The AntiChrist of pro wrestling returns, looking like a taller Jimmy Jacobs, only with a real evil edge to him because, again, he is FRESH OUT OF PRISON.

Jeff Hardy gains street cred (for lack of a better word) and has a ready to go feud with RVD. Plus it rectify's the fact that RVD probably should've never lost the title in the first place.

 

[schaeffershawn]

The latest update pretty much says exactly what i have been saying.

http://www.thepilot.com/news/2010/dec/31/pro-wrestler-set-to-enter-plea-on-drug-charges/

He will be doing some time. The judge may reject the sentencing arrangement and give him more time. Now that this is known yes TNA needs to get the belt off of him. However, this is TNA we are talking about and they have a long history of not doing what they should.

 

[wrestlingfan]

I think this could help psuh the young guys. Isnt it coincidence that both Hardy and Cena the faces of their respective companies may be out for a while? Don't you think?

 

[attackgypsy]

The latest update pretty much says exactly what i have been saying.

http://www.thepilot.com/news/2010/dec/31/pro-wrestler-set-to-enter-plea-on-drug-charges/

He will be doing some time. The judge may reject the sentencing arrangement and give him more time. Now that this is known yes TNA needs to get the belt off of him. However, this is TNA we are talking about and they have a long history of not doing what they should.

I have a feeling, and its just my feeling mind you, that he'll drop it at Genesis.

Reasons:

1. Timing. Genesis is the last PPV before his supposed next court date, IIRC. Yes, it is a little soon. But they have something in place already. RVD has a mystery opponent already. The opponent could be Hardy.

2. Best for Business. Best to get the belt off of him before this court date. No one wants their world champion pleading guilty to multiple drug charges. Or a plea deal. That is really bad for business.


I have a way it could be done. And quickly. They already have a storyline with Dixie Carter fighting to get the company back. She could walk in with a court order giving control back to her. Then she orders the match. 2 weeks later, Immortal can come in with their own appeal order, and we're back to where we were.

Makes sense, or am I totally off base here?

 

[Nikkolas]

The judge is not going to reject the plea.

For one thing, this is a worthless case of no significance.
Two, the courts are plugged up enough. The only way they even grind as slowly as they do is because almost every case comes down to deals. An actual trial is a waste of everyone's time and money.