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NORMAN, Okla. - Video of an Oklahoma University football star punching a woman in the face inside a Norman, Oklahoma, restaurant has finally been made public.
It's been over two years since OU running back Joe Mixon was suspended for punching Amelia Molitor in a restaurant on Campus Corner.
Molitor suffered several broken bones in her face, and Mixon entered an Alford plea to the assault charges, according to KFOR-TV. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging that the prosecution would likely win a conviction if the case went to trial.
Mixon was also suspended from the football team for one season.
Surveillance videos at the restaurant captured the whole event on camera.
Video shows Amelia Molitor shoving and hitting Mixon, and Mixon responding by punching her in the face and then leaving the scene. What preceded the altercation is not clear in the footage.
The City of Norman, the Norman Police Department and the district attorney all refused to release the video.
However, later, a small group of media members were allowed to view the video.
The Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters sued the City of Norman and the Cleveland County District Attorney’s office to get a copy of that tape, saying it should be allowed under Oklahoma’s Open Records Law.
On Dec. 6, 2016, the Supreme Court agreed, and said “The Defendants must allow Association a copy of the surveillance video.”
At issue, was the definition of arrest.
The City of Norman said a warrant was never actually issued for Mixon’s arrest and Mixon voluntarily appeared in court to answer to the charge, making it an exception from the part of the Open Records Act that requires law enforcement agencies “to make available for public inspection facts concerning an arrest.”
“In this case, a warrant was never issued. And, a lot of those cases where people show up just to appear to answer for the charge, sometimes a warrant is issued, sometimes it isn’t,” said Norman Assistant City Attorney, Rick Knighton. “Joe Mixon was not treated any differently than all of the people that appear voluntarily to enter those pleas on a daily basis.”
“A judge ordered him to be processed. A judge ordered bail to be set. Our position was all that constitutes an arrest,” said David McCullough, attorney for the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.
The Supreme Court agreed, saying in their decision “Mixon was arrested, and the video is a record of the facts leading up to the arrest.”
So, the law “requires the video be made available to the public.”
“Any time you have access to a record under the Open Records Act, it’s a win for transparency,” McCullough said.
Mixon’s attorneys sent out this statement concerning the ruling:
On Friday, that video was finally released by Mixon's attorneys. Mixon's attorney also provided KFOR with a letter, stating:
Mixon's attorney said that he is sorry for the way he reacted that night and has publicly apologized to Molitor, her friends, his family, teammates and the University of Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma released the following statement after Mixon's attorneys released the surveillance footage:
KFOR-TV published this statement along with their report on the video's release: