NASCAR: Family Court Announces Ruling Against Kurt Busch

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The battle is over for Kurt Busch when it comes to whether or not there are going to be criminal consequences for the domestic abuse allegations that have been made against him. The criminal battle ended almost two weeks ago when it was announced that the Delaware Attorney General’s office would not be pressing charges (despite the recommendation of the Dover Police to do so) against him due to a lack of adequate evidence proving that he committed an act of domestic violence. The one hurdle that remains is the family court ruling that granted Patricia Driscoll an order of protection back in February. It was that same ruling that ultimately caused NASCAR to suspend Busch in the first place.

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Busch and his lawyers filed an appeal with the family court the day after it was announced they were granting the order of protection. Less than 24 hours later the findings of the family court judge was released in a 26-page document. In the document the judge says that he felt it was “more than likely” that Busch committed an act of domestic violence against Driscoll.

Tuesday morning the appeal to re-open that family court case was denied. According to a recent report by ESPN the motion to re-open the case was based on the following:

"In the motion to reopen the hearing, Busch’s legal team said it had three witnesses — including Beverly Young, whom Driscoll has referred to as her mother although they are not biologically related — who had come forward willing to testify to place doubt on Driscoll’s testimony and show that Driscoll was out to ruin Busch."

Commissioner David Jones made the decision to deny the appeal. Jones wrote in a statement that he wasn’t compelled by the basis of the appeal to re-open the case.

"The newly discovered evidence, when considered in the context of the evidence presented at trial, would not establish that [Driscoll] was motivated by desire to ruin [Busch] when she first reported the allegations of abuse."

Shortly after it was announced that the court had denied the appeal thus keeping the order of protection in place, Driscoll commented on the situation and the courts ruling.

"The protection from abuse order gave me a sense of safety, and I’m greatly relieved that the court reaffirmed my account and upheld it."

As you can see by her comment she still is sticking to her original claim that Busch committed an act of domestic violence. On the other side Busch remains to his claim that the entire story was nothing more than a fabrication. Despite both of their claims the ruling by the family court judge is the only one that really matters as he said it was “more than likely” that Busch did something wrong which is why the order of protection was granted in the first place. Moving forward Busch’s legal team has alluded to the fact that they will continue to seek what their client feels is the truth in this matter.

This weekend Busch will run in his second race of the 2015 season after missing the first three due to the suspension. Busch impressed many last weekend in Phoenix when his car had unexpected speed. This weekend Busch will look to build on his top-five finish from Phoenix at the Auto Club in California.

Christopher Olmstead is the Editor of BeyondTheFlag.com on the FanSided Network. Follow us on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag and “Like” us on Facebook.

Next: In Depth Look At How The Court Ruled Against Kurt Busch

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