TW: This article mentions details of sexual assault and harassment that some readers may find disturbing. Resources can be found at the bottom of the story.

CJ Spillman’s six year run in the NFL that spanned from 2009-2015 ended after he was charged for sexual assault, having already been accused once before. Accusations of sexual assault against Spillman came forward to the public in September 2014. It was soon found out that a previous nonidentified woman had accused Spillman of sexual assault in December 2013. Spillman’s case illustrates that the NFL still relies heavily on the court's ruling as opposed to the validity or lack thereof of the claim itself. The NFL ignores the facts that a majority of survivors don’t report assault and assault cases are more difficult to prove in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt as seen in previous cases. 

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CJ Spillman Twice Accused of Sexual Assault

 Spillman played special teams for the Dallas Cowboys at the time the accusations were released.

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Alleged Assaults

An anonymous woman in Santa Clara California filed a police report accused Spillman of sexual assault in December 2013. The woman, a masseuse, claims Spillman came on to her during a massage. 

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She claims Spillman persistently tried to move her hand onto his groin. She told him “that stuff doesn’t happen here.” At that point he rolled over on his back to reveal his erect penis. According to the police report she claims he pulled down her shirt and put his hands down her pants. She says she asked him, “what are you doing?” but Spillman still tried to take off her pants despite her confusion. 

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She then says he pinned her to the ground and tried to force her to perform oral sex. She said she was consistently telling him “this is not happening” and “stop.” When asked Spillman claimed the two had a consensual sexual encounter and that she was “about to orgasm.” The Santa Clara district attorney didn’t move forward with prosecuting Spillman. 

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Spillman’s behavior only escalated from here. On September 20, 2014 Spillman was accused of raping a woman in Grapevine, Texas. Spillman had met the second unanimous survivor at a mall in Chicago in 2014. They had exchanged numbers and after some text exchanges Spillman had invited her to the Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention center for the week. 

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The woman testified that she believed she would be hanging out with others, not just Spillman. She wanted to leave upon learning that the mother of Spillman’s three children had a restraining order for him out at the time after he allegedly pulled a gun on her.  She testified that Spillman wouldn’t let her leave. Instead, he forced her clothes off of her, made her perform oral sex, and raped her. She claims Spillman asked her “what are you going to do?” after he raped her. 

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Spillman has not denied either sexual encounter, he has just denied that they weren’t consensual. He played a game that next day in St. Louise, September 21, 2014. Spillman was officially charged with sexual assault on June 30, 2015 (figure two). He continued to play with the Dallas Cowboys while the charges were pending. During this time Spillman did his best to avoid reporters. 

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During this time the Dallas Cowboys head coach, Jason Garrett said that to him, due process begins when someone is charged not when an allegation comes forward. Garrett said of the accusations in an interview with ETFinalScore “my answer is going to be the same to all these questions. This is an ongoing investigation where there have been no charges and no arrests,” he said. He added, “When someone’s officially charged or arrested for something that’s when it becomes a different situation in our minds. For now he’s a member of our football team and will take part in everything we do.

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The Cowboys Drop Spillman

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The accusations against Spillman were credible and news outlets continued to report on him. When the NFL season came to a close in early 2015 they decided not to re-sign him. The Cowboys Vice President Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett upheld a zero-tolerance policy for domestic violence for the team. He was not signed again by the NFL.

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Spillman is charged with Sexual Assault

In an anonymous statement provided by lawyer Gloria Allred in July 2016 the 2013 survivor said “I was very upset to learn in 2014 that a woman in Texas was alleging that Mr. Spillman, who was then playing for the Cowboys, had assaulted her in 2014. I was glad to hear however that in her case he was being prosecuted. The DA in Texas had called me to testify in the case and I did testify last week.”

Spillman remained free on bond during his 2016 trial and was taken into custody after he was sentenced. He was indicted by a Tarrant County jury on June 30, 2016 and sentenced to five years for sexual assault.

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What can be done

The conversation about sexual assault in the NFL is not new. There are many players in the NFL who have been accused of sexual assault and continued to have great careers. Spillman’s career was ended due to the law getting involved and subsequently finding him guilty. This conversation is bigger than the NFL though. There are hundreds of thousands of powerful men and women who, in the eyes of the law, have gotten away with sexual assault. 

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In addition to this, sex crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute. This is due to a plethora of reasons including but not limited to the lack of legal specialists in the field, the “he said she said” that many cases fall into, and the narrow legal definition of rape. 

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Areva Martin, an attorney and women’s rights activist was on CNN eight years ago in 2014 discussing the idea of a zero tolerance policy in the NFL. She argued heavily for the NFL to not just rely on criminal proceedings in cases of sexual assault. 

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Martin said, “What I’m saying is there should be a full investigation and determination and it doesn’t have to be at the level of a criminal standard. Think about what happens in a criminal case. The standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. That is an incredibly high standard. In the workplace we often fire people because of sexual harassment, racial descrimination, and other infractions because there are rules set up in that company. And it doesn’t mean that person has committed a crime or there’s been a criminal adjudication but there are standards and violation of company policy. All we are saying in the NFL is get some policies that make sense and if people break them have some consequences.” 

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There are actions that can be taken towards perpetrators of sexual violence outside of a criminal case. There needs to be. Just because someone is not criminally convicted of something does not mean they are not guilty. The NFL is setting an awful example by allowing many players to continue their careers amidst very credible allegations. In her July 2016 statement Allred said “we need to hold people accountable for their actions, no matter what their status is.”

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Allred believes that the NFL is putting their game over survivors. She said “it appears to me that the NFL has made no meaningful changes in its policy and practices when NFL players commit acts of violence against women. They are still protecting their players and their game and survivors continue to pay the cost of their callous indifference towards them. Survivors deserve better treatment but I do not expect them to get it from the NFL.”

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The NFL has created a culture in which many survivors do not feel comfortable coming forward. Spillman only got dropped from the Cowboys because the legal proceedings were moving forward and they knew they were in trouble. 

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There are times where allegations are false, but nationwide a 2022 study done by International Organization, Legal Job5 found that 5% of reported cases were fake claims. Everyone involved in the league should reflect on how their treatment towards these allegations affect young viewers. Seeing someone accused of sexual assault, sometimes even by multiple people, go on to have incredible careers. What does that show them?

If you or someone you love has been affected by sexual assault there are resources available. 

For the National Sexual Assault Hotline call (1-800-656-4673) and visit rainn.org for 24/7 online chatting and alternate resources.

C.J. Spillman (Tarrant County Sheriff's Office), 2016