Ray Rice

Ray Rice has been indicted by the NFL yesterday following an incident at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City. This story seems so bizarre to me, as Ray Rice was not known to commit any crimes in his NFL tenure. After the second video surfaced, Ray Rice saw himself without a job and was immediately suspended indefinitely by the NFL and could face several more criminal accounts. I felt that Ray Rice deserves a full year penalty for the crime he committed because he covered up the original incident, claiming he hit his wife out of "self-defense." Of course, he hit her out of malicious intent. He knocked her out and she hit her head on the railing found in the elevator.
Ray Rice now sees himself as a job but honestly, I believed that Ray Rice should have been penalized on the spot after the first video was released. He was clearly seen dragging his wife out of the Revel elevator, and if I was a bystander why wouldn't you intervene with Rice and question why he was dragging his wife by the hair. She was clearly beaten, and the marks left on her face proved that her injury was more gruesome than hitting your head on the railing.
Based on other information released by deadspin.com, the argument can come up about a Revel security worker sold off the video, that eventually led to the Ravens and the NFL giving discipline. I could imagine since Ray Rice is a professional football player, in some trouble, was sold out by this worker. I don't understand how quickly a situation can go downhill and this event truly escalated after fans and other media outlets understood the specifics behind Ray Rice's malicious attacks.
For the rest of his life, Ray Rice will be known as a wife beater, perhaps maybe something worse. His wife did not need to attacked for any reason, but it was clearly intended. He now joins a list full of other notable athletes turned criminals. Among these athletes are Mike Tyson, Ray McDonald, Plaxico Burress, and Mike Vick. Like many others, Rice became too comfortable under the status of Pro Football player and failed to realize that laws still applied to his actions. When he got up to address the media after the first video was released, it was evident when Rice spoke that he was downplaying the whole issue. He felt too comfortable when he addressed the media and felt the assurance that the franchise had his back. It's not right, and players deserved to get punished equivalent to the seriousness of the crime.