Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers acquitted by jury in domestic assault and battery trial

Content warning: This story contains depictions of alleged domestic violence.

New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers was acquitted by a jury in his assault and battery trial on Friday.

Peppers was arrested on Oct. 5 in Braintree, Massachusetts, after a domestic incident with his girlfriend. He was charged with assault and battery, strangulation and possession of a Class "B" substance, which was later revealed to be cocaine.

The woman testified in court Thursday that she and Peppers had gotten into an argument while they were in bed, and that he had grabbed her neck, slammed her against the wall and pushed her down the stairs as the fight escalated. The police report matched the woman's testimony.

Peppers testified Friday, saying on the stand that he told police that he believed "she was trying to do all this to mess up my career," per The Boston Globe.

Peppers is in his third season with the Patriots and is a team captain. He signed a three-year, $24 million extension last summer.

The safety was added to the commissioner's exempt list a few days after he was arrested. He was removed from the list in late November, allowing him to return to team activities.

Shortly after Peppers was arrested, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the team would part ways with him if the accusations were true. Regardless of the trial's outcome, Peppers could also face discipline from the league for possessing cocaine, which is one of the substances the NFL tests for.

Although the criminal case has ended with an acquittal for Peppers, the civil case on the incident is still to come.

Peppers' lawyer, Marc Brofsky, issued a statement after the trial, saying the verdict proved his client's innocence.

"I usually say, 'My client was found not guilty,'" Brofsky said, via ESPN. "But in this case I will say, 'He was found innocent,' given the state of the evidence, given how quickly the jury returned their verdict. They knew it was a joke."

The accuser's attorney, David E. Gottlieb, issued his own statement on social media, noting the civil trial is likely to end differently.

"We applaud our client for her strength and courage in testifying about these traumatic events. A not guilty verdict does not mean Mr. Peppers is innocent; it only means the jury found that the charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest burden recognized under the law. We are confident that a civil trial will yield a very different outcome," Gottlieb wrote.