Darren Sharper convicted in four states... and counting?

E5 Yaz · Apr 16, 2014

And Kerry Rhodes can't get a job

Carlos Cowart · Apr 16, 2014

I'm wondering how there got to be a 7th case after several previous victims went to the police. For fucks sake, do you have to rape someone in a police station to get caught these days?

ShaneTrot · Apr 16, 2014

Carlos Cowart said:
I'm wondering how there got to be a 7th case after several previous victims went to the police. For fucks sake, do you have to rape someone in a police station to get caught these days?

If you were a woman and you saw how poorly the justice system and society treated rape victims, especially those who accuse a well known man, would you want to put yourself through that?

MarcSullivaFan · Apr 17, 2014

ShaneTrot said:
If you were a woman and you saw how poorly the justice system and society treated rape victims, especially those who accuse a well known man, would you want to put yourself through that?

But that's not what happened here, which is what he was pointing out. Women did come forward, but Sharper ("allegedly") was not arrested, and kept assaulting women in the meantime.

Reverend · Apr 17, 2014

ShaneTrot said:
If you were a woman and you saw how poorly the justice system and society treated rape victims, especially those who accuse a well known man, would you want to put yourself through that?

Want is a funny concept here. In my experience in what I've seen and from discussions with prosecutors and defense attorneys, I would say that in most cases, it makes the most sense for the woman to put herself through it.

It's terrible. Truly terrible. But on the other side, a sense of autonomy has been recovered, even when they lose. In my experience and observations, the women who go through it fare better in the years to come than those who do not.

It's why people warning women of the dangers and awfulness of going through the process, while usually well meaning, drive me nuts.

MentalDisabldLst · Apr 18, 2014

pdaj said:
And man, did athletes have it easier back in the day, before the internet was at its height and social media ruled the sports world. I had never heard of Dave Meggett's disturbing behavior until yesterday.

It's nice to at least see this bit amidst the Meggett story:

Meggett might have beaten the charges, but he didn't escape the episode unscathed. The Patriots released him before the 1998 season, adhering to team policy under owner Bob Kraft that violence against women would not be tolerated. Two years before, the Patriots had drafted Christian Peter, a defensive tackle from Nebraska with a history that included sexual assault, only to dump him several days later.

"It was Bob Kraft's mantra," Don Lowery, the Patriots public relations man at the time, told me. "When that incident happened, it was so egregious. And he liked David. You couldn't help liking him." Head coach Pete Carroll told a reporter, "If you see a pattern developing, at some point you have to decide if that pattern is taking you down the wrong road. We can't dictate behavior, but we can decide whether we want somebody to be part of what we're doing."

The Cosby thing made it into an article on Cracked about celebrities and the awful shit we forgot they did. But not this article from 2013. Not this one either, from 2009. Nor this one, from... 2013, oddly, a month before the first one. Nor this list of 21 people from a month ago. Wait a sec, maybe I'm just imagining that Cracked included Bill Cosby in their lists. Jesus christ, that guy is like Teflon.

biollante · May 7, 2014

How did I not know about the Bill Cosby thing ?

Have I been in a cave ?

Dehere · Mar 20, 2015

Sharper to plead guilty to charges in four states: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/03/darren_sharper_taking_plea_dea.html

Jnai · Mar 20, 2015

Former Saints safety Darren Sharper plans to plead guilty to resolve rape charges against him in New Orleans and Los Angeles, as part of a broad plea deal that will conclude similar cases in four states and drug distribution charges levied by the federal government, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday (March 20).

I've never seen this wording before. Plead guilty to rape charges, that I've seen. To resolve rape charges? It sounds like he's closing the rape charge ticket in his troubleshooting system.

mauidano · Mar 21, 2015

This guy can't do enough time in prison for the wrath and hate he has brought. "Pleading"? What's that gonna get him? Parole in 25 years? Let him rot.

Rovin Romine · Mar 21, 2015

Jnai said:
I've never seen this wording before. Plead guilty to rape charges, that I've seen. To resolve rape charges? It sounds like he's closing the rape charge ticket in his troubleshooting system.

mauidano said:
This guy can't do enough time in prison for the wrath and hate he has brought. "Pleading"? What's that gonna get him? Parole in 25 years? Let him rot.

This is sometimes called a "global" plea bargain. The defendant pleas out all the open cases, some weaker, some stronger, rather than contest all of them. I can see someone saying they're pleading guilty to "resolve" charges in this sort of multiple cases context.

From the defendant's perspective, if you're going down for 30 on one case, and you have 5 other cases pending, some weaker, some stronger, it can make sense to agree to a deal for 30 or 25 or 35, depending on your age. A global deal may involve lesser charges in some cases, or some cases being dismissed, or full guilty pleas with the sentences to run concurrently (not consecutively).

I'm impressed that the defense attorney got 5 different jurisdictions (prosecutors) to agree to some form of global deal that his client was willing to accept. In Crim Law time, this happened pretty quickly for at least 5 cases. (Perhaps Sharper rolled on someone and one prosecutor sold the others on the deal.)

kevmyster · Mar 23, 2015

9 years. Seems light. Does the global plea mean this is all he'll get for the existing charges?

uncannymanny · Mar 23, 2015

It reads like he will have to face this music in every jurisdiction he's charged (so he still has LV, LA, NOLA to go), with similar sentences on the table for each.

Cellar-Door · Mar 23, 2015

Dice K said:
9 years. Seems light. Does the global plea mean this is all he'll get for the existing charges?

That's just Arizona. That article mentions that Nevada expects him to plead guilty and get between 38 months and 8 years.
Then CA, and LA. I assume they'll be consecutive, so he'd be looking at anywhere from 25-40 years assuming the other two are similar.

kevmyster · Mar 23, 2015

Got it. I re-read the article and it still wasn't completely clear to me.

Dan to Theo to Ben · Mar 23, 2015

Case must have been pretty strong when someone accepts 20 years. Have fun with Karma, Darren.

In other athlete rape cases decided today, Hewitt found guilty in South Africa.

PaulinMyrBch · Mar 23, 2015

Everything is concurrent. So he's looking at the 20 year sentence as the one controlling his eventual release from prison. I'm not understanding the split time between federal and state prisons, the articles are lacking detail. But either way, 20 years seems like a break. In the world of criminal law, that thing wrapped up fast. Multiple jurisdictions, victims, DA's, etc., I'm shocked they have a resolution so quick.

MasterShake15 · Mar 23, 2015

Cellar-Door said:
That's just Arizona. That article mentions that Nevada expects him to plead guilty and get between 38 months and 8 years.
Then CA, and LA. I assume they'll be consecutive, so he'd be looking at anywhere from 25-40 years assuming the other two are similar.

It has reported that Sharper will be allowed to serve them concurrently, so it may be 20 years if Louisiana is the longest sentence he receives.

mauidano · Mar 23, 2015

PaulinMyrBch said:
Everything is concurrent. So he's looking at the 20 year sentence as the one controlling his eventual release from prison. I'm not understanding the split time between federal and state prisons, the articles are lacking detail. But either way, 20 years seems like a break. In the world of criminal law, that thing wrapped up fast. Multiple jurisdictions, victims, DA's, etc., I'm shocked they have a resolution so quick.

Probably a good move on everyone's part in terms of time, money, emotion invested into the cases. He'll do 20 for sure. Sucks that he won't get more but his life is gonna be a living hell during and after prison in all likelihood. So there is some justice here.

Dan to Theo to Ben · Mar 23, 2015

BigSoxFan said:
Anyone find it weird that these reported cases all came after his retirement? Behaviorally, that seems kind of strange to me.

He had a helmet on when playing, and the victims realized/confirmed who he was on ESPN/NFLN?

kevmyster · Mar 23, 2015

Will there be civil cases to follow? I'm wondering if there's a possibility he'll still have some wealth when he gets out of jail. Surely the legal fees weren't cheap. Can his victims go after the rest of his money?

SuperManny · Mar 23, 2015

Dan to Theo to Ben said:
He had a helmet on when playing, and the victims realized/confirmed who he was on ESPN/NFLN?

I believe all of the cases were from after he retired so he either started this afterwards or never got caught before.

JMDurron · Mar 23, 2015

BigSoxFan said:
Anyone find it weird that these reported cases all came after his retirement? Behaviorally, that seems kind of strange to me.

It's lazy, psych 101-level thinking, but I could imagine him being used to willing groupies all through his athletic career, and not adjusting well to being just another guy once his prime and fame faded.

Or, there was a longer trail of victims that we will never hear from.

Granite Sox · Mar 23, 2015

MasterShake15 said:
It has reported that Sharper will be allowed to serve them concurrently, so it may be 20 years if Louisiana is the longest sentence he receives.

Perhaps served in Angola? Good luck with that.

uncannymanny · Mar 23, 2015

How does the decision get made between consecutive and concurrent sentences in a situation like this?

Rovin Romine · Mar 23, 2015

Dan to Theo to Ben said:
Case must have been pretty strong when someone accepts 20 years. Have fun with Karma, Darren.

Depends - you'd have to know his ultimate liability. It's complicated but basically he could have been found guilty on a crime in one state, and that could enhance his penalties in another state. It depends on the laws in those particular states (and offense dates v. conviction dates, etc.)

PaulinMyrBch said:
Everything is concurrent. So he's looking at the 20 year sentence as the one controlling his eventual release from prison. I'm not understanding the split time between federal and state prisons, the articles are lacking detail. But either way, 20 years seems like a break. In the world of criminal law, that thing wrapped up fast. Multiple jurisdictions, victims, DA's, etc., I'm shocked they have a resolution so quick.

Not that I was following the case closely, but I'm also surprised at the speed of it all.

Dice K said:
Will there be civil cases to follow? I'm wondering if there's a possibility he'll still have some wealth when he gets out of jail. Surely the legal fees weren't cheap. Can his victims go after the rest of his money?

Some states may charge for prosecution and court costs, but usually that's not overwhelmingly expensive. The guilty pleas in criminal court may have also included restitution for the victims (money paid pursuant to resolving the criminal charge.) They also make any civil cases pretty much a foregone conclusion - depending on the plea, and the laws of the various states, perhaps even an automatic one.

This is one of the reasons why I'm surprised the deal happened so quickly. Usually prosecutors want victims to have significant input into pleas - so there were potentially a lot of ducks to get in a row for the defense. For example, I doubt prosecutor A would have agreed to a plea without knowing what prosecutor B was offering - hypothetically, prosecutor B's deal could have had the condition that Sharper should pay his entire fortune/savings to prosecutor B's victim.

Rovin Romine · Mar 23, 2015

uncannymanny said:
How does the decision get made between consecutive and concurrent sentences in a situation like this?

It's a state law level decision - meaning some states may have laws/prior decisions that mandate/prohibit concurrent sentencing or consecutive sentencing for certain crimes or scenarios. Within those guidelines, it's usually the discretion of the judge. Sometimes the judges can even reject the plea offers worked out by the parties.

Again, it's a lot of ducks for the defense to get into a row. You don't want to plea your client out to sexual offenses in 4 states, only to find out that the deal is getting nixed in state number 5 - and now your client is facing a trial and sentencing as a four time convicted prior sex offender.

Dan to Theo to Ben · Mar 23, 2015

Rovin Romine said:
You don't want to plea your client out to sexual offenses in 4 states, only to find out that the deal is getting nixed in state number 5 - and now your client is facing a trial and sentencing as a four time convicted prior sex offender.

That would be sweet justice though.

Average Reds · Mar 23, 2015

We should probably change the thread title since the man is now a professed rapist.

He's going to do hard time, but with good behavior I imagine he'll be out before we know it. (Unless he loses the ability to have his sentence reduced when he serves concurrent terms.) Regardless, his lawyer earned his fees on this one.

Goodbye Darren.

Scoops Bolling · Mar 23, 2015

Dick Pole Upside said:
Perhaps served in Angola? Good luck with that.

I would pay good money to see him at the Angola Prison Rodeo. Maybe buy myself a nice rocking chair for $10 that he's spent six months fashioning.

Dehere · Mar 24, 2015

Last year just prior to the Seahawks-Broncos Super Bowl I had drinks with a guy who covers the Saints and with the help of more than a few beers he went on an epic rant against Sharper and spelled this whole saga out in what later proved to be perfect detail. Said he felt like he knew the story well enough to believe it but didn't have it cold enough to publish it, a laudable show of restraint I think given the significance of the story and the writer's strong belief that Sharper was the biggest scumbag that ever lived. In the end it was only a few more weeks before papers were filed against Sharper in CA. I guess in circles around the Saints it was pretty widely believed by that time that these stories were true and that Sharper's comeuppance was inevitable.

No great point to the story other than it was an interesting window into what a legit journalist faces when a story of real import intrudes on the world of sports. Had to be hard for the guy to bypass the opportunity to break a story ~~that has now produced possibly the most severe punishment ever for a high-profile rapist in America~~.

Edit - Last clause redacted now that actual length of jail time has been clarified.

Rovin Romine · Mar 24, 2015

Dehere said:
Last year just prior to the Seahawks-Broncos Super Bowl I had drinks with a guy who covers the Saints and with the help of more than a few beers he went on an epic rant against Sharper and spelled this whole saga out in what later proved to be perfect detail. Said he felt like he knew the story well enough to believe it but didn't have it cold enough to publish it, a laudable show of restraint I think given the significance of the story and the writer's strong belief that Sharper was the biggest scumbag that ever lived. In the end it was only a few more weeks before papers were filed against Sharper in CA. I guess in circles around the Saints it was pretty widely believed by that time that these stories were true and that Sharper's comeuppance was inevitable.

No great point to the story other than it was an interesting window into what a legit journalist faces when a story of real import intrudes on the world of sports. Had to be hard for the guy to bypass the opportunity to break a story that has now produced possibly the most severe punishment ever for a high-profile rapist in America.

In terms of a criminal sentence perhaps? Tyson got 6 years or so for a single incident/victim. Sharper gets 20 for 5 victims and drug distribution charges.

Thinking about all the guys who seem to have done something egregious to another person and suffered little or no consequence, it makes me feel bad for Paul Rubens (Pee Wee) - the guy was jerking off in an adult theatre. He basically lost his career over that.

djbayko · Mar 24, 2015

"Darren Sharper -- He'll Serve 9 Years NOT 20 for Louisiana Rapes"

http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/23/darren-sharper-prison-louisiana-rape-drugs-9-years-20

So 10 years - 9 years plus the year already spent in jail - comes to about 1 year per rape victim. Wow.

Rovin Romine · Mar 24, 2015

Wow is right. Assuming even 1 of those cases held water, that's an amazing deal.

Looks like he'll be on probation for 11 years or Parole if Louisiana has that. Plus he's likely to be a registered sex offender. It's pretty easy to violate probation/parole when you're an RSO - there are a lot of byzantine reporting requirements and restrictions that people sometimes just don't do on time. Potentially, he could do more time on a violation than the original sentence. (I'm just talking very generally here.)

BTW, one of the things that makes it so difficult to try these types of cases is the danger of the other cases being mentioned at any single trial. Sort of like the prosecution in AH's murder case wanting to bring the bradley shooting in. I'm pretty sure you can make a very strong argument that Sharper's other, more or less identical, rapes come in to any given case. Each state's law would apply on that though.

LondonSox · Mar 24, 2015

Such fucking bullshit. So if he raped a woman in every state and pleads guilty he could get the same penalty from every state and end up with time served or some nonsense.
As long as you plan your cross state rape frenzy well enough.

soxfan121 · Mar 24, 2015

mauidano said:
Probably a good move on everyone's part in terms of time, money, emotion invested into the cases. He'll do 20 for sure. Sucks that he won't get more but his life is gonna be a living hell during and after prison in all likelihood. So there is some justice here.

Where is the assumption that prison will be "a living hell" for an ex-athlete coming from? Oz?

Marciano490 · Mar 24, 2015

LondonSox said:
Such fucking bullshit. So if he raped a woman in every state and pleads guilty he could get the same penalty from every state and end up with time served or some nonsense.
As long as you plan your cross state rape frenzy well enough.

Exactly. I hope every fucking DA involved gets voted out. This is premeditated rape; there are few things worse that one human can do to another, and he'll be in jail for less time that people sent away on drug offense.

Rovin Romine · Mar 24, 2015

Marciano490 said:
Exactly. I hope every fucking DA involved gets voted out. This is premeditated rape; there are few things worse that one human can do to another, and he'll be in jail for less time that people sent away on drug offense.

Presumably the DAs obtained the consent of the victims. There may well have been generous civil settlements/restitution. (Or perhaps all the cases had deep flaws?) Whatever it is, there's definitely something "more" to this. Most DAs wouldn't drop the ball on a media case of this nature. For 5 to do that strains credulity.

That said, he's probably a registered sex offender for life. He may also be facing the possibility of indefinite civil commitment after his criminal sentence expires. (Basically some states allow sexual offenders to be committed civilly as though they were mentally ill persons.) I can't be more detailed since it's a state level sanction, and depends on what CA, LA, NV, etc. have on their books.

Marciano490 · Mar 24, 2015

Rovin Romine said:
Presumably the DAs obtained the consent of the victims. There may well have been generous civil settlements/restitution. (Or perhaps all the cases had deep flaws?) Whatever it is, there's definitely something "more" to this. Most DAs wouldn't drop the ball on a media case of this nature. For 5 to do that strains credulity.

That said, he's probably a registered sex offender for life. He may also be facing the possibility of indefinite civil commitment after his criminal sentence expires. (Basically some states allow sexual offenders to be committed civilly as though they were mentally ill persons.) I can't be more detailed since it's a state level sanction, and depends on what CA, LA, NV, etc. have on their books.

Even so, the DA's duty isn't just to implement justice according to the victim's standards, but the community's as well and to protect the community from further threat through incarceration and deterrence. Even if the victims just wanted this over with and wanted to avoid testifying, the DAs still grossly let the communities down.

djbayko · Mar 24, 2015

Rovin Romine said:
Presumably the DAs obtained the consent of the victims. There may well have been generous civil settlements/restitution. (Or perhaps all the cases had deep flaws?) Whatever it is, there's definitely something "more" to this. Most DAs wouldn't drop the ball on a media case of this nature. For 5 to do that strains credulity.

That said, he's probably a registered sex offender for life. He may also be facing the possibility of indefinite civil commitment after his criminal sentence expires. (Basically some states allow sexual offenders to be committed civilly as though they were mentally ill persons.) I can't be more detailed since it's a state level sanction, and depends on what CA, LA, NV, etc. have on their books.

I don't have time to dig it up now, but a while ago, there were reports of major flaws in several of his cases (e.g. police perjury). Perhaps they were only confident in pinning one of the charges on him, so they decided to parlay that into an admission of guilt across the board?

GeorgeCostanza · Mar 24, 2015

soxfan121 said:
Where is the assumption that prison will be "a living hell" for an ex-athlete coming from? Oz?

I think it has more to do with the crimes he's committed than his former occupation. In my somewhat limited experience in the matter, fellow inmates give rapists extra attention. So if he doesn't spend all his sentence in PC he'll get the shit kicked out of him more than a few times.

Rovin Romine · Mar 25, 2015

Marciano490 said:
Even so, the DA's duty isn't just to implement justice according to the victim's standards, but the community's as well and to protect the community from further threat through incarceration and deterrence. Even if the victims just wanted this over with and wanted to avoid testifying, the DAs still grossly let the communities down.

The DA does have to balance a lot of factors when considering the justness of a plea - likelihood of conviction, victim, community, mitigating circumstances re: the defendant, and any other "soft" or collateral factors, such as the plea's result on civil cases, and "practical effect" of the plea. (One example of the last might be a circumstance where the state offered less time because there would be an automatic deportation/no re-entry at the conclusion of the sentence.)

Furthermore, parole/probation can range from "do what you want, just don't get arrested again" to house-confinement with a GPS monitor/mandated offender treatment/weekly drug tests/etc. Depending on state law a bigger sentence might hang over the defendant's head for the most minor of violations. I don't know what the situation is here, but I'm just putting it out there.

Rovin Romine · Mar 25, 2015

djbayko said:
I don't have time to dig it up now, but a while ago, there were reports of major flaws in several of his cases (e.g. police perjury). Perhaps they were only confident in pinning one of the charges on him, so they decided to parlay that into an admission of guilt across the board?

Possibly. I've only personally dealt with a three jurisdiction case (not all that uncommon); FL state, GA state, Fed. In that situation the prosecutors seemed to get along - the weak cases were weak and the strong cases were strong. The view was more parochial in that the strong case was worth X, and the weaker cases were just happy with convictions for anything less than X, served concurrently. Since I was a PD at the time, I had to negotiate with the federal PD and the GA state PD who were representing my client in those cases. I think it took about 4 months for everyone to get on the same page.

soxfan121 · Apr 8, 2015

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/04/07/darren-sharper-police-failure-stop-rape-spree

You will get physically ill reading the above.

Average Reds · Apr 8, 2015

I got through the first page and figured that was all my blood pressure could handle.

JohnnyK · Apr 9, 2015

The reporters did an AMA on reddit today with some more info:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3203no/we_are_reporters_from_propublica_the_new_orleans/

They are still answering questions.

Darren Sharper convicted in four states... and counting?

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