Opinion ID: 6112413
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mackenzie Brown

Text: Bradford started dating MacKenzie Brown in February 2016 while they were both freshmen. He started to physically abuse Brown during the summer of 2016 while she was at the University for summer session. By that summer, Bradford had moved into an off-campus house that he shared with other members of the football team. Bradford needed the permission of his coaches to move to an offcampus house after his freshman year. Head football coach Rodriguez testified in his deposition that football players other than freshmen were governed by Player Rule 15. The Rule provided, “Living off-campus is subject to approval by head coach and position coach.” Rodriguez testified that he could require players to move back on campus if they behaved inappropriately. He testified: “I . . . kind of hung that over them, like, ‘Listen, if you are not being responsible in your appointments or whatever, then we can tell you to, you know, move back on campus.’” Brown testified in her deposition that Bradford physically abused her between five and ten times during the course of their relationship. She testified that Bradford “would get upset about little things.” On one occasion during the summer, Brown was in Phoenix visiting her father. Bradford texted Brown, but Brown did not see the text right away. Bradford did not believe her when she replied later that she had not seen the text. “He told me to leave where I was in Phoenix, even though he wasn’t there. And I was like: ‘No I’m not leaving. I’m in Phoenix. BROWN V. STATE OF ARIZONA 31 You’re in Tucson.’” In August 2016, Bradford gave Brown a black eye: “He was upset about something, and I wasn’t saying anything back. . . . And he said: ‘You don’t care.’ And he tried to like slap my hand off of my face, or something, or slap my face. And he hit my eye and then I had a black eye.” On another occasion, while they were at a Goodyear Tire store, Brown was scrolling through her contacts on her phone. Bradford saw the name “Josh” and asked her “Oh, who is that?” Brown told Bradford that Josh was her work supervisor. “That made him upset. And then he like grabbed my arm and dug his nails into my arm. I have a scar.” Bradford sent threatening texts to Brown. After Brown refused to leave where she was in Phoenix, he texted her, “I’m going to show you what happens to people who disrespect me.” On another occasion, when Brown refused to use a phone application to share her location with him, Bradford texted her, “You’re going to make me break your fucking face.” Bradford’s abuse escalated in the fall. On September 12, 2016, Bradford purported to believe that Brown had scratched his car. Bradford and Brown were at Bradford’s off-campus house where he lived with other football players. Brown tried to go home, but Bradford would not let her. She testified in her deposition: [H]e like was trying to pull me in and I didn’t want to go, so I was like trying to stop myself like plant my feet, and he pulled me into the house. And then [he] open[ed] the door, and then he pushed me on the floor. . . . And then he was yelling. And then he slapped me and I hit my head on the cupboard[.] . . . [A]nd then he started like dragging me by my hair 32 BROWN V. STATE OF ARIZONA to the stairs. . . . And then like he was choking me . . . on the staircase. . . . Then he said, . . . “Say goodbye to your mom. You’re never going to talk to her again.” . . . [T]hen he took me upstairs . . . and he like locked the door and took off his shirt. And he said: “You’re about to make me real mad.” And . . . he was like hitting me up side my head and pushing me on the ground and hitting on my arms and my legs. Bradford later took Brown to Safeway to get Tylenol. Brown asked to go home, but Bradford refused. Brown spent the night at Bradford’s house. Bradford took her home the next morning. Brown was at Bradford’s house again the next day, September 13. Bradford went to Wendy’s with some friends. Brown told him she did not want anything, but Bradford brought her back a “Frosty.” Brown said she did not want it, so Bradford put it in the freezer. Another football player who lived in the house told Brown that it was “messed up” that she would not eat the Frosty, so Brown responded, “Okay, I’ll take a bite.” Bradford became angry, saying, “You listen to other people now instead of me.” Brown said she was going to call an Uber and go home. Bradford refused to allow her to go upstairs to get her things. Brown went out to the sidewalk and called Uber. Bradford came outside and forced her into his car. “[T]hen he kind of like smacked me in my face and then like grabbed my hair, and then my nose started bleeding.” Brown went back inside to clean up the blood. Bradford looked through Brown’s phone and found Brown’s brother’s name with a phone number from a different area code than the rest of Brown’s family’s phone numbers. Bradford refused to believe it was BROWN V. STATE OF ARIZONA 33 her brother’s number. She testified: “And so then he got upset, and that’s like when he started hitting me again.” Bradford finally fell asleep. Brown stayed awake most of the night, waiting until she could call her mother. After Bradford dropped Brown off at her house in the morning on his way to football practice, Brown called her mother. Her mother called the police and Athletic Director Byrne. Brown went to her family doctor on September 16. She presented with: burst blood vessels in the eye, bruising on the lower part of the neck, likely concussion, intractable acute post-traumatic headache, neck pain from direct trauma (kicking and hitting) as well as from strangulation, upper back pain, left rib pain with breathing and movement, left upper abdominal pain, abdominal contusions, . . . head tenderness from hitting a cabinet and being punched in the head during the attack, scratches on her forehead, upper arm contusions, circular contusions circling the base of her neck, and contusions with tenderness over her left rib area. Bradford was arrested on September 14. He received an interim suspension notification that same day “due to [his] behavior that has been determined to present a substantial risk to members of the university community.” When DeGroote’s mother learned that Bradford was in police custody, she left an anonymous tip with the Tucson Police Department that Bradford had been abusing DeGroote. Bradford was expelled from the University on October 14. 34 BROWN V. STATE OF ARIZONA Bradford was criminally charged based on his assaults on Brown and DeGroote, and he pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault and domestic violence. In November 2017, Bradford was sentenced to five years in prison.