Domestic charges against Ra’Shede Hageman may have been dropped

The news of Ra’Shede Hageman’s arrest early in 2016 didn’t become public until September, when we learned he faced misdemeanor charges of battery, cruelty to children, and interfering with calls for emergency assistance. The case against Hageman might have been dropped now, as the case file is no longer available in the court database system.

The initial arraignment hearing had been pushed out to December, then canceled and rescheduled, and then canceled and rescheduled again - for next week. And now that it's soon enough to be on the state's radar, something has suddenly happened and it's off again. Except this time it's not just another entry stating that the hearing has been canceled and rescheduled. The entire case file is just plain gone from the database.

It's possible that the database is simply pulling a Choate and the record will be restored once the IT people get back to work tomorrow. But given that it happened to this one case the weekend before the hearing, it's more likely that the case has been resolved in a permanent fashion. And if the case has been resolved, it's almost certainly good news for a Falcons team counting on Hageman to be a major part of their defensive tackle rotation in 2017.

Flip side: Even if the legal charges have been dropped, the league might still take action. If so, any suspension would not likely be for more than one game. Based on other circumstances surrounding the case, it's quite possible that the league will not take action at all.

This case became connected with another civil case between the two parties that was still ongoing at the time. The court ultimately found in favor of Hageman in that case.