Rice case dismissed after completion of program

May 21, 2015 - 6:14 PM Mays Landing, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - A judge in New Jersey has dismissed domestic violence charges against Ray Rice after the former Baltimore Ravens star completed a pretrial intervention program.

Judge Michael A. Donio signed the order on Thursday after the Atlantic County prosecutor informed the court that all terms and conditions of Rice's plea agreement were met.

Rice pleaded not guilty to an aggravated assault charge stemming from a February 2014 incident with his then-fiancee at an Atlantic City hotel and entered the program for first-time offenders designed to keep him out of jail.

In addition, he also paid a fine and received anger management counseling as part of his agreement with prosecutors.

Rice and Janay Palmer were initially charged with simple assault after the incident at the Revel Casino. Video posted online by TMZ.com showed Rice lifting Palmer by her arms out of an elevator and laying her on the floor.

However, video from inside the elevator later surfaced and showed Rice hitting Palmer.

Prosecutors later upgraded the charge against Rice and dropped the charge against Palmer. The two were married on March 31 and prosecutors took Palmer's account of the incident into consideration when accepting Rice into the pretrial program.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games, then increased the penalty to an indefinite suspension in response to public outrage once the second video of the actual punch was revealed.

The case eventually forced the NFL to change its policy on domestic violence.

Rice was cut by the Ravens just hours after the video of the actual punch in the elevator was released in September. He was reinstated from suspension after a successful appeal last November, but has yet to find a new team.