ENGLEWOOD, Colorado – Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller will not face criminal charges after an investigation by the Parker (Colorado) Police Department earlier this year, according to the 18th District Judicial District Attorney’s office.
The office declined to file charges “based on our analysis of the information that is available,” according to a statement on Friday.
The district attorney’s office said the case did not meet the standards of probable cause of admissible evidence “to support a conviction beyond any reasonable doubt, and that the decision to prosecute is in the interests of justice.”
The office said it would no longer comment on an investigation “in which there was never a summons, arrest or filing”.
Parker police, a suburb southeast of Denver, acknowledged that Miller was being investigated. Miller did not comment publicly on any part of the investigation, nor did he respond to requests for comment.
Neither the police nor the public prosecutor said what the investigation was for or what charges Miller might have faced.
On Thursday, Broncos general manager George Paton said the team wanted Miller back for the 2021 season – Miller has a year option in his contract that the team should sign – but added that he wanted to see ” legal process unfolds.
“It is obviously a serious situation, but we want to make it happen before we comment on it,” said Paton.
If the Broncos took Miller’s option before the start of the new year of the league, they would guarantee $ 7 million of Miller’s $ 17.5 million base salary and commit in the last year of a six-year deal and US $ 114.5 million signed in 2016.
Asked on Thursday whether Miller’s return could depend on a pay cut even after the lawsuit ended, Paton said the team “is still working on it”.
“We want to bring Von back … I don’t want to go into everything, but we want to bring him back,” he said. “Obviously, the legal process, what he’s going through, is a serious situation, obviously, and I don’t know all the details, but we respect what’s going on. We want Von back. ”
Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl 50 MVP, missed the 2020 season after an ankle injury just days before his debut. At the time, coach Vic Fangio said he hoped Miller would have “a hell of a year. ”
Miller had eight sacks in 2019, his lowest total since 2013, when he ended up with five after serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and suffering a tear in the ACL in December.
He is the oldest player in the Broncos and John Elway’s first choice as the team’s top football executive. Elway stepped down from his role as general manager earlier this year, before Paton was hired in January.