Federal Judge Rejects Former Saint’s Plea Bargain
If you do bad things chances are bad things will be done to you. Former NFL standout and New Orleans Saints player Darren Sharper is finding out the penalties in the real world are a lot stiffer than those enforced on the playing field.
Sharper has had his plea deal where he admitted drugging and raping multiple women rejected by a Federal Judge in New Orleans. The judge in the case felt that the plea deal did not measure up to the seriousness of the crimes.
In her ruling US District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo gave Sharper and his legal team until March 3rd to withdraw his guilty plea. According to one legal observer, Chick Foret, things do not look good for Sharper. His original plea deal with three other states called for nine years in federal prison. The federal statutes for such crimes call for a stiffer sentence. Those guidelines suggest a 15-20 year prison term.
Foret told the Louisiana Radio Network,
We learned today that there are 16 victims. Previously we thought there were 9 victims in four states. So Judge Milazzo very seriously said that she rejected the plea bargain.
That information and the rejection of the original plea deal now give Sharper and his defense team very few options.
Go to trial, he can rework his plea bargain and maybe the government will give him different crimes to plead guilty to or he can just maintain his plea and go back to the 15-20 year sentence.
Sharper's legal team has given no indication of what their next move might be prior to the March 3rd deadline imposed by Judge Milazzo.