Post by Logan on Mar 29, 2017 23:35:39 GMT -6
In appeal, Darren Sharper argues his federal guilty plea was forced and his sentence was miscalculated
Darren Sharper really had no choice, his attorneys said in a federal appeal filed Friday.
The former Saints defensive star had first signed a "global" plea deal with prosecutors in four states in which he agreed to spill the beans about his and others' involvement in an elaborate scheme to drug women for the purpose of raping them.
In exchange, Sharper would serve nine years in federal prison and the rest of his life on probation.
But a New Orleans federal judge tossed a wrench into that deal in 2015 when she rejected the nine-year prison term as too short, citing a federal probation report that turned up still more of Sharper's alleged victims — a total of 16.
Sharper's attorneys now argue that he was forced to stick to his guilty pleas or face a flurry of new prosecutions based on his earlier admissions to authorities.
Read more: www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_14800f90-05fb-11e7-a29f-d73f74405151.html
Darren Sharper really had no choice, his attorneys said in a federal appeal filed Friday.
The former Saints defensive star had first signed a "global" plea deal with prosecutors in four states in which he agreed to spill the beans about his and others' involvement in an elaborate scheme to drug women for the purpose of raping them.
In exchange, Sharper would serve nine years in federal prison and the rest of his life on probation.
But a New Orleans federal judge tossed a wrench into that deal in 2015 when she rejected the nine-year prison term as too short, citing a federal probation report that turned up still more of Sharper's alleged victims — a total of 16.
Sharper's attorneys now argue that he was forced to stick to his guilty pleas or face a flurry of new prosecutions based on his earlier admissions to authorities.
Read more: www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_14800f90-05fb-11e7-a29f-d73f74405151.html