I think he did get married to ''jane doe'', correction welcome if any of this is in error.
NB got married at some point, as far as I've heard...they separated. Had a restraining order, then 'Jane' went out for drinks with him. Which is a bit more than odd. Then he ''pulled her hair'' more than once, with the last, causing her to fall. Apparently it was a common occurrence according to 'Jane' of some usually mild hair pulling...whatever that means, never known of it occurring in public though?...This initally mild hair pulling, that from what could be interpreted, in some uninhibited false sense of trying to re-ignite the flames of the night, or keeping them alive...commenced after a drink or two, involving what may have been preceived as playful hair pulling, that they shared in intimacy between the two at some point before, with this false-placed playfullness, then escalated to the calamity, or alternatively, the playfulness, descended into intentional coercive violence that he was charged with.
In the calamity side of the story, as 'Jane' turned away and NB drunkenly reached out to tug her hair...a giant mis-timed-drunken-calamity ensued. That's one side of the story, whether there was any coerciveness behind it, we don't know, depends on the witnesses, Jane, NB and cameras that might have captured the event.
Though I share with you, that the entire encouter sounds bizarre from the beginning Just in the present moment, I'm concerned that we haven't heard anything about this since May...so wondering, did the trial go into the twilight zone, or some kind of out of court, non-published, hush-hush payout?
While NB or anyone should be prosecuted to the full extend of the law if this was violent coercion, it does and it is likely it was made from the outset seem a bit antagonistic to 'go out for a drink' with someone you have a restraining order against. Not a coffee but 'a drink' in a bar with the man you have a restraining order against and are still married to.
What exact message is that sending, to someone, to anyone? With a subtext is there that they're 'back together', then no psych I'm leaving, was it all a setup just to have him hope that there was something between the two that night? With it seems he did the usually mild hair pulling, once and it didn't go down well...then minutes later tried it again, as Jane was turning and walking and well, the calamity ensued. I doubt someone in a monstrously drunken state could have timed that. In that last tug, which was what caused the damage. So unless he pursued her on foot and ran up behind her etc. which actually no reports even remotely claim, you do get the impression it was more a calamity than intentional.
If somone says 'quit it' to something an act you once both consider playful, that's on the line. You wait till later and do it again and it's over that line. However this is assuming everyone is in a sober mind.
In a drunken mind, it could somewhat be seen how innocously believed ''she's out on a date with me, she used to like me pulling her hair, maybe if I do it gently again, that'll please her''.
When you likely are not so gentle in the state of total confused drunk,edness nor able to have any notion of good timing. Anyway, this is all just one ''not guilty'' line of reasoning. the other fan-hysteria-generated narrative, is that NB really does have some problem necessitating restrainment, with taking onboard what 'quit it and stop pulling my hair'' translate to, as a disagreeable answer. However he himself may have felt manipulated into the situation or exploited and used or treated in a degrading inhumane manner. You don't get a pass for more than two on 'playful' matters. Unless it is a request for thumb wars, then as we all know, you get three throughout an entire day, but that's a playful request so it's incomparably different.
In any case, they are the two extremes of the narrative told. Which one it actually was, we don't know.
Just one thing is certain. We should recoil from coercion of any kind. Controlling manipulative behavior is disgusting no matter which gender it's on.
Though as all this has been said, with different camps flying their flags high already, with no progression in understanding of what really happened, then everything having died down in May, ever since all has been weirdly quiet, so does anyone know or care to comment, Is Nicholas Brendon a free man today?