Adrian Peterson Denies Allegations of Child Abuse in Court

#adrian peterson has been in the news a lot the past few weeks for allegedly abusing his children. He’s back in the news today after reports surfaced that he used his charity’s funds to pay for inappropriate happenings in a hotel room, for which he denies any wrongdoing. The Vikings player is also in the news again today because he appeared in court for the first time today since he was indicted in September on charges he committed child abuse.

The football player is scheduled to appear in a Texas court today before a judge where he will plead Not Guilty on all charges. Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, instructed his spokesperson to provide the general public with information that if Peterson is asked in court today how he pleads, he is going to plead not guilty to child abuse. In his words, Peterson states that the incident involving a tree branch and his 4-year-old son was an accident.

The NFL player stated on more than one occasion that he did hit his young child with a tree branch, but that he did not mean to harm the child when he did so. He did intend to spank him, but not painfully, according to Peterson. The prosecutor in the case, Phil Grant, did not comment on the news that the star would plead not guilty, nor did he comment when questioned as to whether or not the case has a chance of being settled without going to trial. If the case does go to trial, Adrian Peterson could spend as many as two years in prison for abusing his child (which is a year-and-a-half shorter than the prison term Joe Giudice is serving for committing fraud).

The Vikings star is not playing at the moment, as he’s been put on paid leave by his team until the case is over and there has been a decision made about his guilt or innocence.

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/#getty Images for ESPY