Lawyer: NSAC lacks jurisdiction to discipline Silva
Today the Nevada State Athletic Commission met and Wanderlei Silva was on the agenda for discussion. Apparently he won’t be attending himself.?
Today the Nevada State Athletic Commission met and Wanderlei Silva was on the agenda for discussion. Apparently he won’t be attending himself:
“I had already scheduled this tour in Canada,” Silva said. “They told me (about the meeting) after I scheduled my commitments here, but my lawyer will be there and he will clarify everything.”
Silva declined to reveal what his lawyer will say in his defense before the commission, but is optimistic.
“The commission will make a coherent decision and will apply the law,” he said.
Furthermore, Silva’s lawyer spoke to MMAFighting.com and expressed his belief that the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to take any disciplinary action over his client:
“It is abundantly clear that the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to take disciplinary action over Mr. Silva, a non-licensee, for not submitting to testing that the NSAC had no authority to order,” Silva’s lawyer, Ross Goodman, wrote in a motion addressed to Nevada Deputy Attorney General Christopher Eccles and obtained by MMAFighting.com.
“Mr. Silva is not an unarmed combatant because he did not compete in UFC 175. … The NSAC has never been vested with the authority to direct or order non-licensed persons to submit to a chemical test. Consequently, the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to seek disciplinary action against Mr. Silva, and any attempt to do so, clearly exceeds the NSAC’s limited statutory jurisdiction.”