Hardy had gone through the legal system and the case against him was dropped.
He underwent a team suspension for 15 games and a league suspension of 4 games.
That's an impressive feat of mental gymnastics, if only because you're contorting things in such a way that if you stretch the truth any further it'll snap like a rubber band.
Here's what really happened:
Hardy terrorized a woman for hours in an alcohol (and possibly narcotics, he was observed as having "tiny pupils") induced rampage, all stemming from a Nelly song that threw him into a jealous rage. A fucking Nelly song.
He threatened her life repeatedly.
He threatened to commit murder suicide repeatedly.
He strangled her.
He held her hostage.
He pointed multiple weapons at her, including high powered rifles.
He lied about all of this. Constantly. He even went so far as to say that the victim assaulted him and made all of this up because he wouldn't have sex with her. Classy.
He was convicted, put upon appeal details emerged that there was likely a monetary settlement arranged with the victim at some point in late 2014. She "disappeared" and did not participate in the legal process any further, thus collapsing the prosecution's case.
He made every dollar of his $13.1 million franchise tag, despite playing in only one game in 2014.
He was suspended only 4 games for this.
Oh, and the victim claims that this was a pattern of behavior for him, and after viewing the way he's acted in the last 18 months I'm inclined to believe her. You can hide behind the flimsy legal angle of this, and buy into the notion that this a he said she said thing. But keep in mind a jury did convict him, and those photos are telling a very different story than the contradictory and at times preposterous yarn Hardy and his legal team were spinning.
http://nypost.com/2015/02/09/greg-hardy-case-dismissed-after-paid-off-accuser-disappears/
http://www.scout.com/nfl/cowboys/story/1529511-cowboys-hardy-a-timeline-of-dv-complaint