ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller will not face criminal charges after an investigation by the Parker (Colorado) Police Department earlier this year, according to the district attorney’s office for the 18th Judicial District.
The office declined to file charges “based on our review of information that is currently available,” according to a statement Friday.
The district attorney’s office said the case did not meet the standards of probable cause of admissible evidence “to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the decision to charge is in the interests of justice.”
The office said it would not comment further on an investigation “in which there was never a citation, arrest or filing.”
Police in Parker, a suburb southeast of Denver, had acknowledged that Miller was the subject of an investigation. Miller has not publicly commented on any part of the investigation, nor has he responded to requests for comment.
Neither the police nor the district attorney have said what the investigation was for or what charges Miller could have faced.
On Thursday, Broncos general manager George Paton said the team wanted Miller back for the 2021 season — Miller has an option year in his contract the team must engage — but added he wanted to see the “legal process play out.”
“Obviously it’s a serious situation, but we want to let it play out before we comment on that,” Paton said.
If the Broncos pick up Miller’s option before the start of the new league year, they would guarantee $7 million of Miller’s $17.5 million base salary and engage the final year of a six-year, $114.5 million deal signed in 2016.
Asked Thursday if Miller’s return could hinge on a salary cut even after the legal process had played out, Paton said the team was “still working through that.”
“We want to bring Von back … I don’t want to get into everything, but we want to bring him back,” he said. “Obviously the legal process, what he’s going through, it’s a serious situation, obviously, and I don’t know all the details, but we respect what’s going. We do want Von back.”
Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl 50 MVP, missed the 2020 season after an ankle injury just days before the opener. At the time, coach Vic Fangio said he had expected Miller to have “a hell of a year.”
Miller had eight sacks in 2019, his lowest total since 2013, when he finished with five after serving a six-game suspension for violating the league substance abuse policy and then suffering a torn ACL in December.
He is the longest-tenured Broncos player and was John Elway’s first draft pick as the team’s top football executive. Elway stepped away from the general manager’s role earlier this year before Paton was hired in January.
Source : ESPN
