Adrian Peterson chats with attorney Rusty Hardin (right) during Wednesday’s hearing. (Getty)
Things are getting weirder and weirder in the bizarre legal drama involving Adrian Peterson.
A day after the prosecutor in Peterson’s child abuse case asked the judge to recuse himself for calling the lawyers on both sides “media whores,” a Houston TV station reported that prosecutors have asked the court to issue a warrant for Peterson’s arrest after he admitted to smoking weed prior to taking a drug test on Wednesday.
Houston-based Fox 26 reported that Peterson admitted to a staffer that he had “smoked a little weed” while giving a urine sample on Wednesday. Smoking weed would be a violation of Peterson’s bond conditions and could lead to the judge in the case, Kelly Case, ordering the All Pro running back’s $15,000 bond revoked, the station reported.
As the station noted, the circumstances surrounding a potential arrest are murky because of Case’s own status. He’s awaiting a hearing held by another judge to determine whether he’ll remain on the case or be pulled off it at the prosecution’s request.
News of the “smoked a little weed” comment came three days after the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Peterson was investigated for rape after a 2011 orgy at a Minnesota hotel involving Peterson, Peterson’s brother and multiple women. Peterson tweeted an extensive response to the report on Tuesday night, less than 12 hours before his first public hearing in the abuse case.
Meanwhile, Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, is pushing the court to start Peterson’s trial as early as the week before Thanksgiving, which would give Peterson a chance at returning to the Vikings before the season is over. At Wednesday’s hearing, Case set a tentative start date of December 1, but said the court might be able to move it up depending on whether other cases fall off the docket.
Neither Peterson nor any of his representatives have commented publicly on the “weed” report.