ORLANDO, Fla. — Ex-NFL player Zac Stacy will remain out of jail on bond while facing domestic violence charges but is prohibited from being in the state of Florida unless it’s for court hearings, an Orange County judge ruled Wednesday.
Stacy, 30, is accused of beating the mother of his infant son at her Oakland home Nov. 13, an attack that was recorded by security cameras. He was arrested last week on charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief but released after posting $10,150 bail.
During a hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge Mark Blechman heard from Stacy’s ex-girlfriend, Kristin Evans, who asked the court to increase the bond amount and place Stacy on home confinement.
Evans said she was “afraid to go home” after Stacy was released from jail.
“I was slapped, punched — literally picked up and thrown into my TV,” Evans told the judge. “... This is not the first time he’s been violent with me. I am afraid for my safety and my children’s safety.”
Blechman denied her request to increase Stacy’s bond amount or require him to wear an ankle monitor, which the judge said is “prohibited” in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Stacy will live in Alabama with his mother until December when he checks into a Colorado mental health treatment facility for 30 days, said Thomas Luka, Stacy’s defense attorney.
“The purpose of bond is to ensure the safety of the community and the primary purpose is to ensure your presence [for court proceedings],” the judge told Stacy. “... I’m not going to modify your bond amount. I think the amount is appropriate, only based upon your appearance today.”
Evans told Oakland police officers Stacy came to her home to see their 5-month-old Nov. 13 when he attacked her during an argument, according to an arrest warrant.
Video captured by the victim’s surveillance system showed Stacy hitting Evans until she fell to the ground, then picking her up “like a rag doll” and throwing her into a 65-inch television that fell on top of her, a detective wrote in an affidavit.
The video went viral after Evans posted it online.
Prosecutors and Evans’ attorney said Stacy fled the state after the incident, according to court documents.
Orlando police arrested Stacy at the airport after he arrived Thursday on a flight from Nashville. During the hearing at the Orange County Courthouse Wednesday, Luka said his client hired him before there was a warrant for his arrest and flew back to Florida to turn himself in.
“He was not trying to flee the state,” Luka said. “He was not trying to hide.”
At Stacy’s first appearance in court last week, a judge set his bail and ordered him to surrender his passport and any firearms, as well as avoid contact with his ex-girlfriend.
Evans wanted to attend Stacy’s Friday first appearance hearing in person but was at the hospital, said Thomas Feiter, her attorney. She tried to be at the hearing virtually but could not be heard by the attorneys or judge and was “effectively silenced,” he said.
Feiter and prosecutors asked the court Wednesday to revisit Stacy’s bond amount and give Evans a chance to be heard.
“We consider him to be a very dangerous and violent man,” Feiter said.
Stacy is a former running back for Vanderbilt University and later the NFL’s St. Louis Rams and New York Jets.
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If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or Florida’s Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-500-1119. In Central Florida, you can also call the Harbor House’s 24-hour confidential crisis hotline at 407-886-2856.
