NEW YORK – The NFL players' union says Ray Rice has won his appeal of his indefinite suspension. An association spokesman says the suspension has been "vacated, effective immediately."
The appeal was heard earlier this month by a former federal judge. She was deciding whether the NFL overstepped its authority when it modified Rice's earlier two-game suspension. It was turned into an indefinite suspension after video became public showing the Baltimore Ravens running back punching a woman who was then his fiancee. She is now his wife.
Rice was released by the Ravens as Commissioner Roger Goodell made the suspension indefinite.
Rice and the Union claimed he was essentially sentenced twice.
The former judge, Barbara S. Jones, wrote that Rice hadn't misled Goodell, and that there "were no new facts on which the commissioner could base his increased suspension." And because of that, she says, the indefinite suspension was "arbitrary."
