Sharper’s lawyers: Plea terms not adequately explained
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge did not adequately explain the terms and consequences of a plea agreement resulting in an 18-year federal prison sentence on drug and sexual assault charges for disgraced former NFL star Darren Sharper, lawyers for Sharper said in appeal briefs filed Friday.
Sharper pleaded guilty or no-contest to rape or related charges in four states where women accused him of drugging then assaulting them. A 2015 “global” plea agreement in state courts in Arizona, Nevada, California and Louisiana — and federal court in New Orleans — was expected to result in a nine-year sentence.
But U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo in New Orleans said the sentence was too light and rejected the bargain. Sharper opted to maintain his guilty plea and prosecutors noted that he was co-operating in the federal case against two Louisiana co-defendants.
Prosecutors and Sharper’s lawyers worked out a new agreement, which didn’t specify a sentence. At a hearing last year, Milazzo, who noted that he may have assaulted as many as 16 women in multiple states, sentenced Sharper to 18 years and four months.