DOVER, Del. (Delaware Online) - NASCAR's Kurt Busch will not be charged by the Delaware Attorney General's office.
Attorney General Matt Denn's office declined to file charges stemming from a complaint filed last November by the driver's ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. Thursday's decision concludes a months-long investigation that has kept the NASCAR world guessing what would happen to the driver known as "The Outlaw".
"After a thorough consideration of all of the available information about the case, it is determined that the admissible evidence and available witnesses would likely be insufficient to meet the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Busch committed a crime during the September 26th incident," Delaware Attorney General spokesman Carl Kanefsky said in an e-mailed statement. "Likelihood of meeting that high burden of proof is the standard for prosecutors in bringing a case. For this reason, the Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges in this case."
Driscoll, president of the Armed Forces Foundation and a defense contractor, alleges Busch had grabbed her by the throat and slammed her head three times against the bedroom wall of his motor home during a September race weekend in Dover. Last week a Kent County Family Court commissioner ruled in favor of Driscoll and granted a protection order against the driver in a separate civil matter.
NASCAR, acting off that civil decision, suspended the driver indefinitely last week, two days before the Daytona 500.
The order, which expires in 2016, stipulates that Busch has to stay 100 yards away from Driscoll, her home and workplace. At NASCAR races he has to maintain the maximum "practicable" distance from her and not attempt to contact her.
Last September, on the night of the alleged abuse, Driscoll claims she visited Busch out of concern for his mental state after a breakup and a poor race performance. Driscoll, who brought her son with her that night, said in court she became concerned after he texted her that he was on the floor, crying after watching the Brad Pitt movie, 'Seven Years in Tibet'. But Rusty Hardin, Busch's attorney, said Driscoll showed up unannounced and broke into the driver's motor home.
Busch's legal camp has long denied Driscoll's allegations and instead claimed she was a jilted ex-lover who was determined to ruin the driver's career. On the stand Busch contended that he never slammed her head, never grabbed her by the throat or pushed her head against the wall. Instead, he says he cupped her face and told her to leave. A Dover police detective testified that Busch had told him the same thing, but also that Driscoll's head tapped the wall as he cupped her face.
The hearing gained attention after Busch testified that he believed Driscoll was a trained assassin who had killed drug lords. The driver said Driscoll, who owns her own defense contracting firm, is a "bad ass" and could have overpowered him at any time.
She has since refuted those claims, saying Busch was pulling information from a screenplay he had once edited for her.