TAMPA – Former National Football League defensive lineman and Super Bowl champion Michael Neal was back in court in Hillsborough County on Friday morning.
Neal’s case has been delayed twice in recent weeks due to a disruption in the State Attorney’s Office.
His defense petitioned the court for a new bond hearing since the delay in his trial is not the fault of the defendant or the defense.
The backstory:
Neal was a second-round draft pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. He was selected by the Green Bay Packers, who went on to win Superbowl XLV in 2011. Neal remained in the NFL for six seasons.Â
He moved to the Tampa Bay area, beginning a business dealing with real estate and building an investment portfolio. He offered business advice to people seeking direction in investments in real estate and rental properties with his company 1st and 10 Consulting.Â
In early April, Neal was arrested on a domestic battery charge. He was released on $3,500 bond in that case. Then, later in the month, he was arrested again. This time, Neal’s accuser brought a charge of sexual battery.
Neal appeared before the same judge who had earlier in the month granted him bond. That judge ordered Neal be held without bond.
Previous coverage: Former NFL player’s trial delayed by change in the prosecution
What we know:
Due to a Governor’s Executive Order, the 10th Judicial Circuit was asked to take on the existing criminal cases against Neal.Â
Assistant State Attorney Lauren Perry has had less than a week to get to know the case, but she appeared in court via Zoom today for this bond hearing.
Perry expressed the prosecution’s desire to maintain custody of Neal with “no bond” due to the same arguments that the State Attorney’s Office from the 13th Judicial Circuit made back in April.
Judge Gregory Green acknowledged that he thought that she may do so, but he also expressed some frustration as the new prosecution objected to parts of the case.
While the prosecutor is new to the case, Judge Green is not, and he has presided over several different parts of this case leading up to this hearing.
Neal’s defense attorney, Lily McCarty, presented her bond motion.
Michael Neal with defense attorney Lily McCarty
Her office learned that the 13th Judicial Circuit had to recuse themselves from this case after discovering that the victim had been making a significant number of illegal recordings on her personal phone.
The validity or legality of the recordings are in question according to the defense, and McCarty reminded the court that anything obtained illegally cannot be used by the court.
The real issue as to the delay in the trial came up. The victim, at her deposition with the State Attorney’s Office, made a statement alluding to the existence of illegal recordings and of hidden cameras in the residence.
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The defense presented the exchange this way. The victim was directly questioned: “Are you recording us now?” To which she answered “Maybe” and then “Yes.”
“We believe that the prosecution in general has been sabotaged by the victim,” said McCarty, “None of these things happened at the defense’s action. None of these issues are the fault of the defendant.”
McCarty further stated that the defense is not able to question her about any of this due to her Constitutional right to not incriminate herself since she is now  under criminal investigation by the 12th Judicial Circuit in Sarasota.
McCarty asked for a bond while the court works out the cases that are now in disarray due to the victim’s actions.
While the prosecution objected, Judge Green weighed in with his knowledge of the case.
Without the initial recording of the sexual assault that Neal has been charged with, there is little evidence to find that Neal committed this crime.
Judge Green did not dismiss the charges, but he did set a bond with conditions. Michael Neal can be released from jail after posting $100,000 bond, surrendering his passport, and hiring an independent GPS monitoring service. He may have no contact with the victim in person, by phone, by any communication method, email and social media included.
The defense accepted those conditions and waived Neal’s right to Speedy Trial.
The prosecution asked that the domestic violence case and the sexual assault cases be combined for expediency.
What’s next:
With a waiver of speedy trial and with a new prosecutor taking on the case. Both the defense and prosecution discussed moving the trial date to February. Judge Green set a disposition date for October 27th to bring up the consolidation of the two cases. Â
A trial date will be set at that hearing.
The Source: This story was written based on court recordings and court documents.