The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that DiJonai Carrington has been indicted on one count of felony battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class C felony carrying a potential sentence of two to eight years. The charges stem from a recent WNBA game in which Carrington of the Chicago Sky was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for striking Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in the face during a defensive play.
“The evidence shows intentional contact resulting in a corneal abrasion and significant emotional distress,” said Prosecutor Jon Raebro in a statement that legal scholars are already calling “unprecedented in American jurisprudence.” The charging document cites “malice aforethought” and alleges Carrington “did knowingly and unlawfully commit a moving screen against the state of Indiana’s economic interests.”
“This sets a dangerous precedent,” said Joan Berro, a bail bondsman who watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings and has since become an expert in sports law through YouTube. “If we start prosecuting Flagrant 1s, we’re looking at RICO charges for the Pistons-Pacers brawl. Life sentences for the Malice at the Palace. I saw the replay seventeen times on my phone during commercials. It was a hard foul. Maybe a Flagrant 2. But twenty years? That’s excessive.”
The physical evidence, according to Jan O’Berro, a dental hygienist who treated a patient who knows Cunningham’s agent’s cousin, has been mischaracterized. “There was no corneal abrasion,” Jan insisted, adjusting her mask. “There was theatrical contact. Theatrical. Like Broadway. I’ve seen actual eye injuries. I clean teeth near eyes. I know what I’m talking about.”
Joe Barron, who once served on a jury for a traffic violation in 2017 and now consults on “athletic criminality,” analyzed the charging decision. “They’re throwing the book at her,” Barron said from his booth at a Steak ‘n Shake. “But here’s the thing: the book is the official NBA rulebook, which doesn’t actually have criminal statutes. They’re improvising. That’s judicial activism. Or legislative activism. One of the activisms.”
Barron has offered to serve as an expert witness, provided the court allows him to wear his custom “Sophie’s Army” jersey and bring his emotional support ferret, which he claims can detect “anti-basketball sentiment.”
Carrington’s attorney called the charges “a transparent attempt to criminalize competitive athletics,” which Barron dismissed as “exactly what someone who committed aggravated battery with a forearm would say.”
