NFL

Richard Seymour's Wife Arrested on Two Alleged Counts of 'Lynching'

Posted Jan 30, 2009 11:35AM By Will Brinson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Patriots, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Media Watch

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Richard Seymour's wife was arrested yesterday in a bizarre -- and violent -- set of criminal circumstances. Tanya Seymour, according to wltx.com, was picked up by police because of an incident relating to a New Year's Eve party that resulted in her being charged with "two counts of second degree lynching."


The 27-year-old wife of a New England Patriots defensive lineman was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of second degree lynching in connection to an assault at a New Year's Eve party in Richland County.

Deputies say the incident began after two victims, who told investigators that they had been invited to the party, were engaged in a verbal altercation with an unknown number of people.

Investigators say the two victims were assaulted by a group of people, sometime after 12:30 a.m. on January 1, and they told deputies the group "jumped" them.
We're obviously treading -- based solely on the charges involving the word "lynch" -- on some seriously charged racial ground here. MediaTakeOut didn't do anyone a favor, either, by referring to the incident as "some good old fashioned Southern justice" and alleging that Seymour was cheating on his wife.

Of course, the whole thing takes a different spin when you actually look at South Carolina laws (via PFT; which is also an example of why the lawyer/blogger thing works so well), lynching is a punishable crime that is much broader and more benign than you'd expect. As described in the state's Code of Laws:
"Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person and from which death does not result shall constitute the crime of lynching in the second degree and shall be a felony. Any person found guilty of lynching in the second degree shall be confined at hard labor in the State Penitentiary for a term not exceeding twenty years nor less than three years, at the discretion of the presiding judge."
So, really, the problem here is that South Carolina still uses the antiquated term "lynching" in the state's criminal procedure laws; eliminating that would have resulted in "assault" or some such term and wouldn't have the media nearly as riled up. There's still the issue of Mrs. Seymour attacking someone, of course, but apparently she's clear on bail now and will have to deal with the charges once the proper justice protocol runs its course.

Tags: Richard+Seymour, RichardSeymour

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