Adrian Peterson reaches plea agreement, will avoid jail time

Adrian Peterson has reached a plea deal in his child abuse case.

The agreement, first reported by Pro Football Talk, states that Peterson pleaded no contest to a lesser misdemeanor charge of reckless assault and will avoid jail time. He was originally charged in September with felony child abuse for striking his four-year-old son with a wooden switch, which gave his son cuts and bruises.

The Minnesota Vikings running back appeared in a Montgomery County, Texas, court Tuesday, and a district judge approved the agreement. Peterson has stated that he "never intended to harm his son" and was "disciplining him in the same way he had been as a child," according to The Associated Press.

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The NFL has not yet announced when Peterson can return to the league. He has been on paid leave under a "special exemption from the NFL commissioner," AP notes.