The Secret Life of Sam Hurd

December 16, 2011 12:50 PM

It just hasn't been a good month for the Chicago Bears. First they lost Jay Cutler and Matt Forte to injuries, and yesterday wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested in an undercover drug sting, after an investigation that began in July 2011.
posted by SisterHavana (55 comments total)

Isn't this entrapment?
posted by Renoroc at 12:51 PM on December 16, 2011

In an unsurprising development, Hurd was cut by the Bears this afternoon.
posted by SisterHavana at 12:52 PM on December 16, 2011

They also lost to the Tebows on an amazingly dumb play by Marion Barber. Damn him.
posted by inigo2 at 12:53 PM on December 16, 2011

Two million a year just doesn't go that far anymore?
posted by R. Mutt at 12:56 PM on December 16, 2011

Isn't this entrapment?

Probably not, entrapment is only a defence if you can prove that the police convinced you to do something that you otherwise wouldn't do.
posted by atrazine at 12:56 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Entrapment requires that the person not be "ready and willing" to commit the crime, so if the government can show that Sam Hurd was ready to go around buying drugs from people, entrapment shouldn't be an issue.

The real crime, of course, is that the Bears signed Sam Hurd (of 739 yards in six years in the league) to a contract at all.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:57 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

is that the Bears signed Sam Hurd (of 739 yards in six years in the league) to a contract at all.

Hurd is a very good special teams player.
posted by nathancaswell at 1:01 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Entrapment: FBI asking Hurd if he wants to buy cocaine.
Not entrapment: Hurd asking FBI if they will sell him cocaine.

If he instigates the transaction, it's not entrapment.
posted by chundo at 1:06 PM on December 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's a pretty fucking big coke party. Mike Florio from PFT (former lawyer) has an interesting theory that Hurd may have been talking a big game to the UC, trying to make himself seem like a bigger deal than he was. Anyway, crazy story, and could get a lot crazier with the news that the Feds have "double digit" list of other NFL players who Hurd had sold to.
posted by nathancaswell at 1:07 PM on December 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

I wish sports would stop corrupting drugs.
posted by telstar at 1:09 PM on December 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

You'd think people would learn...
posted by inigo2 at 1:10 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I haven't followed the story at all but someone told me this morning that Hurd was apparently making more money with his coke side business than he was from his NFL dayjob.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:12 PM on December 16, 2011

I haven't followed the story at all but someone told me this morning that Hurd was apparently making more money with his coke side business than he was from his NFL dayjob.

Hey, at least he was planning for a post-football career!
posted by chundo at 1:13 PM on December 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

All this talk about Tebow. Why won't God help the Bears?!?
posted by TheNewWazoo at 1:14 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Unlike Culter and Forte this has no bearing on fantasy football leagues... therefore is irrelevant.
posted by incandissonance at 1:16 PM on December 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Shakespeherian -- He was looking to get $700,000 worth of cocaine and marijuana bought and distributed each week. His NFL contract was for $2 million, so I presume yes, more money via drugs than via the NFL.
posted by garlic at 1:17 PM on December 16, 2011

"At least someone on the Bears was trying to score." - seen on a friend's FaceBook page
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:21 PM on December 16, 2011 [15 favorites]

He would have been a better receiver but he had to stop at each of the white lines.
posted by drezdn at 1:25 PM on December 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Ugh, my poor Bears. On the other hand, think of all those poor players who now have to find new drug hook-ups in the middle of the most important part of the regular season.
posted by hiteleven at 1:25 PM on December 16, 2011

This week I was sad that Ryan Braun may have cheated (fingers crossed that it's just Herpes), but this made me feel better about the Braun situation. Thanks, Bears!
posted by drezdn at 1:26 PM on December 16, 2011

I can't believe he was moving so much product and making so much money yet still making rookie mistakes that, as has been noted, anyone who has watched a few episode of cable TV dramas in the last decade wouldn't do.

It almost seems like he'd been only dealing with the undercover agents all the time because anybody who was really selling drugs would say 'hey stupid, you need to not do [most of what you're doing the way that you are doing it]"; he's certainly not been dealing with anyone who gave a fuck about his best interest. Which, as too many people reply when talking about concussions, is part of the game. Which, as I say in both cases, doesn't mean it's fair or I'm going to celebrate with Schadenfreude, even if they knew the consequences going in.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:33 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

On Rome's radio show today they said he was dealing to like twenty NFL players and there's going to be lots more shit.

allegedly
posted by bukvich at 1:35 PM on December 16, 2011

Chundo: Entrapment: FBI asking Hurd if he wants to buy cocaine.
Not entrapment: Hurd asking FBI if they will sell him cocaine.

If he instigates the transaction, it's not entrapment.

Untrue. If he wasn't pre-disposed to commit a crime, but for the police intervention, then it was entrapment, otherwise it's not. Put another way, if you were going to buy drugs from whoever offered to sell them to you, it doesn't become entrapment when the first person who offers them to you is a cop. In order to claim entrapment, you need to be able to convince the finder of fact (traditionally a jury) that you weren't planning on buying drugs, and that you were basically bullied into it.
posted by craven_morhead at 1:35 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sam Hurd also didn't learn any lessons from Darryl Henley, a Rams cornerback about, oh, a third of the way through a 41-year sentence. Henley was some hardcore evil, roping others into his ring and even attempting to hire people to kill a judge and an NFL cheerleader he had been using as a mule.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:36 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

If there's any good that comes of this, maybe it will be that lots of people who think "This person can't be an undercover cop working me because it would be entrapment." might learn that it doesn't mean what they think it means. (Not that I'm a huge fan of a lot of the people who listen to sports radio, but I don't want them arrested either.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:40 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

$450 a pound for marijuana? That's some pretty shitty ditch weed right there.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:42 PM on December 16, 2011

When you're buying in the quantities of 1,000 pounds, there must be a hell of a price break.
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:50 PM on December 16, 2011

Well, he'll probably spend everything he has on attorneys and get off with some sort of deferred sentencing with some heavy duty probation.

It's going to take one hell of an attorney. He wasn't moving grams, he was moving kilos. The formal charges is possessions with intent to distribute 500 or more grams. For a first timer, that's five to forty years and/or a fine not to exceed $2M. If someone dies buying or using, it's 20 to life. If it's a second offense, 10 to life, if death occurs from usage, life imprisonment, and up to $4M fine.

In the complaint, they state that Hurd stated to them that he wanted to purchase 5-10 kilos of cocaine and 1000 pounds of marijuana a week, and Hurd told them that he already moves 4 kilos of cocaine a week.

Even if he sings, he's going to do some time.
posted by eriko at 2:03 PM on December 16, 2011

Oh please oh please let that list be composed of players from the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots oh please oh please oh please
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:15 PM on December 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Odds Cedric Benson is customer #1?
posted by playertobenamedlater at 2:18 PM on December 16, 2011

Odds Cedric Benson is customer #1?

Good choice but I'm going with Jack Del Rio. I know he never coached Hurd but fuck, look at the guy. And that name? C'mon.
posted by nathancaswell at 2:22 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's going to take one hell of an attorney.

Better call Saul.
posted by dirigibleman at 2:27 PM on December 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

as a cowboys fan - i do worry about the cowboys connection. i am so glad hurd waited to get busted until he was traded to the bears.

and, when the cowboys traded marion barber i was like, ARE YOU INSANE?! my thought was yeah, he's at the ending years of his career, yeah he's not the powerhouse he was 4ish years ago, but do you really want him having a stellar day against you? because when he is on, he is motherfucking on...

but, watching him this season, seems like the home office was right.
posted by nadawi at 3:09 PM on December 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

I still don't know quite what happened to Marion Barber. There was a time where if you asked me to pick one running back in the league to build around I would have picked him, no question. I think it had to do with witnessing his 2 yard run against the Patriots. What happened? I know RBs have short shelf lifes, but he's 28 and he's already over the hill. Shocking.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

After hours of laborious thought (when I heard the news):

A Bears receiver finally makes a decent score, and he gets flagged. Sums up the season perfectly.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:19 PM on December 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is serious business, not like killing puppies and dog fighting. I doubt Hurd will ever play professional football again.
posted by Sailormom at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2011

(and it's not even like Barber got run into the ground he was always splitting the carries with someone, the most carries he ever had in a season was 238, he's not exactly 2010 Michael Turner)
posted by nathancaswell at 3:22 PM on December 16, 2011

whoops, meant 2008, when Turner had 376 carries
posted by nathancaswell at 3:24 PM on December 16, 2011

i think marion barber's greatest asset is what has him aging so quickly. if you had to get 4 yards, barber could do it. he'd do these leaps, or do his own blocks, or just slam his body into players twice his size and just flat move them forward. that's not the kind of play you can spend a couple decades doing.

as to the comparison to michael turner - turner has 2000 more yards than barber but only one more touchdown. barber did a lot of his on the goal line, which is tougher going usually.
posted by nadawi at 3:38 PM on December 16, 2011

Odds Cedric Benson is customer #1?

I don't know, if the cocaine is more than 3 yards away, he probably couldn't be bothered to go get it.

(Yes, I'm a Bears fan, and no I'm not bitter>
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 3:42 PM on December 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

I don't know, if the cocaine is more than 3 yards away, he probably couldn't be bothered to go get it.

Very true.

(Yes, I'm a Bears fan, and no I'm not bitter)

At least I didn't say Curtis Enis. (Fellow Bears fan).
posted by playertobenamedlater at 3:51 PM on December 16, 2011

Seems impossible to me that he wasn't dealing to a bunch of NFL players. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would be running a street operation, he was probably breaking it out to a few dozen guys at most.
posted by empath at 4:14 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Didn't Nate Newton try to argue against distribution charges when caught with hundreds of pounds of weed that he was a large man, wealthy and was purchasing in bulk to get a volume discount?
posted by thecjm at 4:31 PM on December 16, 2011

Isn't this entrapment?

I think the refs call it holding.
posted by dhartung at 4:44 PM on December 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yahoo: Hurd was busted on Wednesday by undercover Homeland Security agents after attempting to set up regular purchases of marijuana and cocaine to expand a drug sale system that he already had going.

If the terrorists attack tomorrow, at least they won't be juiced up on coke.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 5:36 PM on December 16, 2011

I just don't see how anybody that bad at being a drug dealer could move four kilos of coke and half a ton of weed at all, let alone clear that much a week for any length of time. Those are some pretty deep and shark-infested waters to be swimming in even if you know what you're doing, and he really doesn't sound like he had a clue. Any 16 year old suburban eighths and quarters pot dealer would have known not to do the shit he was doing - if the feds hadn't gotten to him first, whoever else he was trying to deal with would have just ripped him off anyway.

My guess is he was a couple orders of magnitude more small-time than he was pretending to be, and this was his way of trying to move up the food chain.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 8:11 PM on December 16, 2011

Exactly my thoughts as well. But the food chain in Chicago as far as drugs go doesn't work that direction. It's a very complex network that allows people to sell on the street and neighborhoods not get raided every five minutes (unless the wrong people are trying to sell)

"Starting your own network" as they keep saying on the news that Hurd was trying to do is just about the dumbest mistake you could make. Not only are you going to draw attention from yourself at the federal level, but you're going to piss off the network that is already in place -- which has zero intention of going anywhere.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think selling to an undercover cop might have been the lesser of two obviously tragic ways this story could have ended. Getting himself killed pissing off the wrong people so kind of like a story you'd see on Law and Order -- but hell, I guess so does this one.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:12 PM on December 16, 2011

playertobenamedlater:
At least I didn't say Curtis Enis. (Fellow Bears fan).

Or Rashaan Salaam.
posted by SisterHavana at 9:12 PM on December 16, 2011

I went to Northern Illinois at the same time as Hurd. I also worked at the student newspaper. We reported a story about Hurd being involved in a fight where a bottle was smashed over his head, apparently started over something being dropped into a woman's drink. Not all that relevant to this story I suppose. Anyway, we always thought there was more to that story. The university wasn't exactly cooperative.
posted by IvoShandor at 10:10 PM on December 16, 2011

If a pro football player has time to run an operation like this, he isn't being practiced hard enough.

Signed,
George Halas
posted by gjc at 12:41 PM on December 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not Salaam. There's a joke to be made about him being unable to hold a package without fumbling it, but really, the pain is still too real.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:45 PM on December 17, 2011

Tebow caught sniffing cocaine.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 11:30 PM on December 17, 2011

"It's a very complex network that allows people to sell on the street and neighborhoods not get raided every five minutes"

Huh, anymore to that? I guess the point is to make networks as opaque and clearly defined as possible (as opposed to say in Mexico where lack of stable territories induce violence); but how do these networks avoid Federal detection in general?
posted by stratastar at 4:07 PM on December 18, 2011

Well, at least Johnny Knox is stil.....well, shit.
posted by nickgb at 6:26 PM on December 18, 2011

Nickgb, I already had the game ruined for me (time zone issues, needing to wait for good copies to surface), but when I saw your post, I immediately checked it out and... Dammit. I like Knox. When a team feels the need to point out an injury isn't career threatening, it must be awful.

Oh well, the Bulls are playing again. Surely they will bring me nothing but joy and happiness.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:14 AM on December 19, 2011