Johnny Manziel attorney mistakenly sends text to AP about his case

Even by the standards of Johnny Manziel's 2016, the story the Associated Press reported on Friday is unbelievable.

The AP reported that Manziel's lawyer Bob Hinton mistakenly sent the AP a long text message, which he said later was meant for another attorney, presumably discussing a plea bargain in Manziel's domestic violence assault case and apparently suggesting he believes Manziel might have trouble staying clean if that is part of any deal.

"Heaven help us if one of the conditions is to pee in a bottle," Hinton accidentally wrote to the AP, the news organization says.

Hinton also wrote, the AP said, that he was emailed a "heads up" receipt "which purports to reflect" that Manziel spent more than $1,000 at a drug paraphernalia store this week, 15 hours after an incident in which his car was hit and the other car that hit his drove off.

"I don't know if the receipt is legitimate or not," Hinton responded when asked about it by the AP. "I just know that it doesn't say Johnny's name on it anywhere that I can see. It's just that somebody in that store, I guess, circulated that to the other store managers and employees saying, 'Guess who was here today and spent this amount of money.' That's all I know."

The AP story said it got the accidental text after a reporter texted Hinton to ask about the hit-and-run incident. Hinton told the AP he meant for the text to go to another attorney. According to the AP's story, Hinton threatened to sue the AP if certain details were published, citing attorney-client privilege.

CBS 11 in Dallas reported that it talked to Hinton, and Hinton claims the texts are not from him.

Manziel has been photographed at parties often this offseason, with many of the photos making their way to social media or the gossip site TMZ. During the 2015 offseason, when he was still a quarterback with the Cleveland Browns, Manziel spent some time in a rehab facility.

Manziel was indicted on a charge of assault, stemming from an altercation with his ex-girlfriend earlier this year. Hinton told AP that this week he met with an administrative chief in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office who is "very interested" in working toward an agreement in the case.

- - - - - - -

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab