Double Jeopardy?

I deplore violence against women. I am glad that the NFL is finally getting serious. Most of us saw the video of Ray Rice dragging his future wife out of an elevator, and applauded when the original 2 game suspension was increased to six games. Then a second video emerged, of the vicious punch which floored the woman. Frankly, I had imagined such violence from the first video. Ray Rice was "cut" (lost his job) from his team. Then Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, banned Rice "indefinitely". That seems to me inappropriate--not that it was the wrong response to the offense, but that he had already been punished for it, and such a severe penalty represented a changed policy.. We would not consider it right to introduce legislation to upgrade a misdemeanor to a felony, and then charge someone with a felony for an act committed before the change in the law. Unless the suspension is lifted.within a year or two,this talented athlete will have lost the rewards of his career. It also seems that Goodell is more interested in keeping his own well-paid job than being fair to the player. The one good thing about this saga is that it may discourage such physical violence in the future. The practitioners of a violent sport may think twice about jeopardizing future earnings running into many millions of dollars.