Former Tiger Woods prosecutor on plea deal: ‘Both sides win’

Dave Aronberg, the former Palm Beach County, Fla., state attorney who prosecuted Tiger Woods in 2017, said Wednesday “both sides win” after the golfer changed his plea to no contest to a recent reckless driving charge .

Woods was arrested in March after he struck a pickup truck and flipped his Land Rover in Jupiter, Fla.

Aronberg told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that the state’s best evidence against Woods is dashcam footage of his arrest, while Woods’s defense lawyers said the golfer was on prescription drugs for past injuries and “developed a tolerance” and, therefore, was not impaired in this latest crash.

“In this case, both sides win,” Aronberg continued. “It’s not that they’re not throwing out all the charges. He had to pay a price. He had to plead guilty to the lesser offense of reckless driving.”

Aronberg said Woods never blew into a breathalyzer and refused a urinalysis, which left no direct evidence for prosecutors of impairment at the time of the crash, solely relying on the dashcam and body camera video. The video showed Woods appearing disoriented, with two pills found in his pocket.

He noted that State Attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit Thomas Bakkedahl “did the right thing in that this case is flawed,” referring to Bakkedahl’s defense in accepting the plea change.

“I mean, he didn’t have a slam dunk here,” Aronberg evaluated.

Bakkedahl told reporters Wednesday that he did what he thinks is right.

Woods announced after his arrest that he would step away from golf to seek addiction treatment and commit “to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger and more focused place, both personally and professionally,” he wrote on social media.

His driver’s license will be suspended for five years, as part of his plea agreement, and he will need to pay a fine.

In the 2017 incident, police officers said they had to wake up Woods when they approached his running vehicle before his arrest, ESPN reported citing a police report. The golfer pleaded guilty to the charges and entered a first-offender program.