The NFL has named the soon-to-be-ex-director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and a former high-ranking New York City prosecutor to leadership positions in its disciplinary operation, ESPN reports.* ATF Director Todd Jones, who is also a former U.S. attorney, will become the league’s special counsel for conduct, while Lisa Friel will become the special counsel for investigations. Friel ran the Manhattan district attorney’s sex crimes unit for nearly 10 years, leaving that post in 2011.
The NFL was heavily criticized in 2014 for the inadequacy of its investigation into former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault on Janay Rice, who is now his wife, in an Atlantic City casino elevator. A review of that incident by former FBI Director Robert Mueller concluded that the league’s investigators never asked the Revel casino, Atlantic City authorities, or Rice’s defense attorneys for elevator security footage, later leaked to TMZ, that showed Ray Rice punching Janay Rice.
Friel has already done work for the NFL, having been brought on as an adviser along with two other domestic violence experts during the Rice scandal.
In other NFL disciplinary news, former star safety Darren Sharper is expected to receive concurrent prison sentences of up to 20 years after agreeing to plead guilty to sexual assault charges in four different states.
*Correction, May 23, 2015: This post originally misstated the name of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
