Crime

Patriots’ Jabrill Peppers’ trial to begin next week with video evidence

Motions request that the prosecutors don’t mention the “small amount of cocaine” found in Peppers’ wallet.

New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers leaves his arraignment at Quincy District Court in October. Photo By Matt Stone/Pool

By Molly Farrar

January 12, 2025

2 minutes to read

With Jabrill Peppers’s jury trial date approaching, his lawyer is asking for the trial to include cell phone video that shows the encounter and to exclude mention of the cocaine found in his wallet, according to court records.

The Patriots safety is accused of assaulting a woman “right after a sexual encounter,” according to court documents. He was arrested Oct. 5 and charged with domestic assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and possession of a Class B substance.

Peppers pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his trial is set to begin Jan. 22. The final pre-trial conference in the case was Friday in Quincy District Court. Peppers did not attend in person, The Boston Globe reported.

Peppers allegedly choked the woman and pushed her head against a wall in his apartment before forcing her from his apartment, according to police records. Police also found a small bag of white powder in his wallet; Peppers allegedly admitted it was cocaine and tested positive for the drug.

His lawyer, Marc Brofsky, filed multiple motions in court Thursday, including “to refrain from referring to the complaining witness as the ‘victim.’” Another motion asked for the judge to exclude Peppers’s statement “I f–ed up coach,” which he allegedly said at the Randolph Police Station on the phone.

The motions also request that the prosecutors don’t mention the “small amount of cocaine” found in Peppers’ wallet, according to the court documents.

“This charge will be resolved short of trial,” the motion said about the cocaine. “The possession charge is irrelevant to the issues that the jury will have to decide. The unfair prejudice to the Defendant significantly outweighs any probative value.”

Previously, Brofsky has indicated that there is video evidence that “completely contradicts the alleged victim’s story.”

“I expect my client to be fully exonerated,” he told a Boston 25 News reporter after a hearing last month.

In a new filing, Peppers’s defense introduces four of his cell phone videos allegedly from the incident, showing Peppers asking her to leave his home and denying assaulting her.

“Although she alleges that the Defendant choked her, smashed her head against a wall and threw her down a steep flight of stairs, the only apparent injury she has is a minor scrape to her knee,” the motion said.

A judge has not yet ruled on the motions, according to the docket, but the Globe reported that the judge on Friday said the videos can be played in full during the trial.

pIn November, Peppers was removed from the Commissioner’s Exempt list, allowing him to get back on the field in December.

Brofsky didn’t return a request for comment Sunday evening.