"The NFL could discipline Brandon Marshall a second time essentially for the same alleged incident, depending on how a six-person jury rules in his trial next month in Atlanta. Marshall, the Broncos' leading receiver the past two seasons with a total of 206 catches, is scheduled for trial Aug. 13 on a misdemeanor battery charge in the Georgia State Court of Fulton County in Atlanta. Judge John Mather will preside over the trial, which is expected to have a judgment from the jury on the same day. Providing he has sufficiently recovered from offseason hip surgery and caught up on the playbook after skipping six weeks of the Broncos' offseason program to protest his contract, Marshall could leave Atlanta and join his team the next day in San Francisco for its preseason opener against the 49ers. Marshall's trial stems from an incident March 4, 2008, at the Atlanta apartment of his former girlfriend, Rasheedah Watley. The alleged altercation between Marshall and Watley caused NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate the receiver's conduct, which included numerous previous police-related incidents. Although Marshall had not yet received his day in court regarding the alleged altercation with Watley, Goodell ultimately suspended the wide receiver for the first game of the 2008 season and fined him two game checks. Goodell had found Marshall guilty of violating the league's personal conduct policy, which states, "As an employee of the NFL or a member club, you are held to a higher standard. Persons who fail to live up to this standard are guilty of conduct detrimental and subject to discipline, even when the conduct does not result in conviction of a crime." A conviction, however, could stiffen the punishment. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed Wednesday that as part of Marshall's discipline last year, he was told that if something more came of the charges against him, he could be subject to additional league discipline."
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