Brandon Marshall Isn't Mentally Ill, He's A Jerk

Being a Chicago Bears fan, I was very happy when I first heard the news that wide receiver Brandon Marshall had been traded to the Bears from the Miami Dolphins for what seemed like a bargain basement price of two third round draft picks. I was excited, but I also felt slightly hypocritical because I knew that it was documented that Brandon Marshall had hit women before.  

I'm sad... that I keep getting caught.

So, I have to admit I was less than surprised when I heard the next day that Marshall had been involved in an altercation in a night club two nights before and was being accused of punching a woman in the face. Here we go again, I thought. Ironically, the alleged incident occurred on a night when Marshall had spoken at a benefit event to support awareness for mental illness. Marshall has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. In my opinion BPD is a dustbin diagnosis with no real clinical value or diagnostic precision, but more about that later. Since being diagnosed Marshall seems to have squeezed every ounce of sympathy he can wring from whatever gullible audience will listen to him rationalize a lifetime of criminal behavior and violence against women. "I'll be the face of BPD" Marshall announced. And in my opinion, he is. It's a bullshit diagnosis from a community of pseudo-scientists that only a decade ago would argue to the death that repressed memories and Multiple Personality Disorder (remember that) were real. 


Fortunately, the non-morons in the psychological community eventually prevailed and spurious diagnosis like Multiple Personality Disorder, subsequently renamed Dissociative Identity Disorder to deflect some of the criticism and sound even more credible, were debunked, and it's huckster proponents exposed as charlatans. But the damage was done. It's hard to take Psychology seriously as a valid science when it seems at times to be little more than an advertising agency for big pharma. 


But back to Brandon Marshall. Here's his rap sheet, which began in 2004, and which he has been steadily adding to ever since. Here's a chronological accounting of his criminal activity.



Oct. 31, 2004: During his junior year at Central Florida, Marshall was arrested at a Denny’s restaurant in Orlando, Fla.,  on charges of assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct, trespass and resisting arrest without violence and refusal to obey. The charges were dismissed.


April 8, 2005: Marshall was charged with retail theft, a misdemeanor, after trying to return a stolen set of bed sheets, valued at $19.99, to a Burlington Coat Factory. The charge was dropped.


June 17, 2006: Marshall and longtime girlfriend Rasheedah Watley both filed police reports alleging physical abuse by the other in a long altercation at an Orlando apartment. No arrests or charges were made.


Jan. 1, 2007: Marshall was at the Denver nightclub Shelter with Broncos teammates Javon Walker and Darrent Williams, attending a birthday party for Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin. As the group left the club in a limousine, Williams was shot fatally in the neck by an unknown assailant. Walker later said the shooter was likely another man at the nightclub who was seeking retaliation after an altercation with Marshall's cousin that evening. Marshall testified at the trial of gunman Willie Clark that he helped escalate the dispute that led to Williams' death.


Jan. 24, 2007: According to the Denver Post, police interviewed Marshall and his father after an argument in an Orlando parking lot. Marshall claimed his father tried to hit him with his car. His father claimed Marshall had fired a gun. Both men declined to press charges.


March 18, 2007: In Atlanta, Watley told police Marshall punched her and took her purse while in a hotel. Marshall was gone before police arrived. No charges were filed.


March 21, 2007: According to the Denver Post, police in Palm Beach County, Fla., interviewed Marshall and Watley twice in the same night after two loud arguments. Both said the disturbances were not physical in nature. No arrests or charges were made.


March 26, 2007: Marshall was arrested in a Denver suburb on suspicion of domestic violence. Watley reported Marshall prevented a taxi she was in from leaving his house. Marshall completed anger management counseling and the charges were dropped two months later.


June 8, 2007: According to the Denver Post, two incident reports were filed by Atlanta police. A friend of Watley’s claimed Marshall hit her car and then threw a rock at the passenger door as Watley was riding in the passenger seat. Watley also told police Marshall cut her in the thigh and punched her in the face. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Marshall was not present when police arrived. No charges were filed.


June 30, 2007: According to the Denver Post, Watley told Atlanta police Marshall punched and choked her at his condo. She had a bruise and scratches. Marshall was not present when police arrived. No charges were filed.


Oct. 22, 2007: Marshall was arrested in Denver and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He was pulled over driving the wrong way on a one-way street hours after a game. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving while ability-impaired and was sentenced to one year of probation and 24 hours of community service.


March 6, 2008: Marshall was arrested on charges of misdemeanor battery in Atlanta after a dispute with Watley. She told police he punched her in the mouth and eye. Marshall said he cut his hand on glass.


Aug. 6, 2008: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Marshall for three games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension was reduced to one regular-season game and a fine of an additional game check, costing him $52,353.


March 1, 2009: Marshall was arrested in Atlanta on disorderly conduct charges after allegedly being involved in a dispute with then-fiancee, Michi Nogami-Campbell, now his wife. Charges were dropped the next day.


Aug. 14, 2009: Marshall was found not guilty on the battery charges from the March 2008 arrest in Atlanta.


April 23, 2011: Marshall was taken to Broward General Medical Center after Nogami-Campbell stabbed him in the abdomen at their Florida home. Nogami-Campbell told police she stabbed Marshall “out of self-defense.”


And then this Sunday: Marshall is accused by a 24-year-old woman of punching her in the eye, leaving a black eye, in an altercation outside a club in New York. Marshall’s attorney says it was Marshall’s wife that was injured and says the couple are the true victims in the case.



It's my opinion that Borderline Personality Disorder is a fake disorder, catalogued by the APA, a fake scientific community, in order to sell drugs and create experts who can make their careers rationalizing bad behavior. It's possible to be mentally ill and still be an asshole, but in this case I think Brandon Marshall is just an asshole. I don't believe he's mentally ill at all. And I think the APA should be ashamed of themselves for creating another fake disorder. 

I'm not a woman beater, I'm insane.

Nonetheless, I also believe people can change and hold out hope for even Brandon Marshall. If we don't we ever allow people the opportunity to overcome whatever deficits of character they show, how can we ever expect anyone to grow? I think Michael Vick did. His behavior since serving his prison sentence for dog fighting charges shows that he has remorse, has changed, and understands what he did that was wrong. I think Marshall is showing us the opposite tactic. he's found a sympathetic ear that will cover up for him with a fancy earful of Greek salad and is riding that trick for all its worth. I think the psychological community is being made a fool of in this instance and it does a disservice to those out there who are legitimately mentally ill. I don't want someone like Brandon Marshall becoming a spokesperson for anything except the Ike Turner wife beater fund. What he's doing is in my opinion shameful, and what the psychological community is doing to excuse it is exhibit A as to why psychology can never be fully trusted as a science.




Time for a feminist voice. Single Zombie Female on Date Rape
Dr. Strangedog on the Penn State Scandal