The Adrian Peterson legal saga hit an unexpected snag in Texas on Wednesday when the Montgomery County district attorney filed a motion asking for the judge in the case to recuse himself, charging that he had called the attorneys in the case "media whores."
The Minnesota Vikings running back was in court expecting to enter a not guilty plea to child abuse for allegedly whipping his son with a switch. He is sitting out the current NFL season while facing the felony charge.
District Attorney Brett Ligon and District Judge Kelly Case had a heated exchange that left Peterson as a bystander,
according to the Houston Chronicle. Ligon tried to get Case to apologize for the comments he allegedly made about the case during an unrelated drug court meeting earlier.
Once the dust settled, Ligon filed a motion for Case to recuse himself from the case, which left Peterson until his Nov. 4 to enter his formal plea, noted the Chronicle. In the meantime, an administrative judge will oversee Ligon's motion to recuse.
"Everything is kind of on hold until that is resolved," assistant district attorney Phil Grant told the Chronicle.
An open microphone picked up the conversation at Case's bench that included Peterson's attorney, Rusty Hardin,
reported CNN.
"Yeah, that was meant as a humorous joke, and unfortunately humor is sometimes taken the wrong way," Case said to Ligon after apologizing for the "media whore" comment. "I apologize to both of you. That's not how I feel about any of you. I think you're doing a great job, and I've known Mr. Hardin for 25 years."
"Just for the record, I didn't take offense to it," Hardin told Case, according to CNN. "I've been called much worse."
According to KHOU-TV, Hardin has said he wanted Peterson's trial to begin the week before Thanksgiving, giving the star running back an opportunity to return to the Vikings for the last month of the season.
"He just keeps getting hammered without the ability to respond," Hardin told Case in court. "This is the place to resolve all those allegations."
Peterson has been barred from Vikings team activities until his case is resolved, but is continuing to receive his $11.75 million salary for the 2014 season, noted ESPN.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.