Jed York will miss the 49ers' home opener, extending an absence that already kept him off the team’s trip to Australia and will now leave him out for a second game in a row. He is staying away, he said, to avoid any distractions.
The timing matters because the NFL is expected to decide soon whether York faces any discipline. In August, the league said it was aware of the matter and that it would be reviewed under the personal conduct policy, leaving open the possibility of punishment even after his legal case moved forward.
York pleaded to two misdemeanor charges on August 24 after being arrested in Ohio last month on suspicion of engaging in prostitution. Columbiana County court records in Ohio say he allegedly responded to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranged to have sexual activity with a female in exchange for $140. As part of the plea agreement, the original prostitution charge was amended to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and the other misdemeanor was possessing criminal tools.
The case turned on his cell phone, which prosecutors identified as the criminal tool, and on conduct that the league now has to weigh against its own standards. York’s choice to stay away from the 49ers' home opener keeps the focus off the stands for one night, but the larger issue is still unresolved: whether the NFL decides the misdemeanor plea is enough for discipline under the personal conduct policy, and how soon that answer arrives.
