Sharper, once a Pro Bowl safety who reached two Super Bowls with the Packers and Saints, has pleaded either guilty or no contest to charges that he drugged and raped women in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Louisiana. His initial sentence was pegged at nine years, but a U.S. District Court judge rejected that as too lenient earlier this year. He now faces 15 to 20 years in prison. Sharper’s charges involve at least nine, and as many as 15, different victims.
Also charged in connection with Sharper are Erik Nunez, a former restaurant worker, and Brandon Licciardi, a former St. Bernard (La.) Parish deputy. Nunez accepted a plea agreement on Monday, while Licciardi has pleaded not guilty and faces a trial expected to begin later this week. Sharper is expected to be a witness at that trial. All three were charged with distribution of drugs with intent to commit rape; Licciardi was charged with witness tampering, while Nunez was charged with destruction of a cell phone considered to be evidence in the case.
Sharper’s self-inflicted fall from the heights of NFL stardom was one of the more precipitous in recent years. He had been named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2000s and, immediately upon retirement, stepped into an announcing gig for the NFL Network. But he was arrested in early 2014 on charges of sexual assault, and following a series of court actions, was initially sentenced to the nine-year term. The judge rejected that term, noting that federal pre-sentencing guidelines call for terms of approximately 15 to 20 years, and indicated that the length of Sharper’s term could be determined in part by his cooperation with prosecutors in the cases involving Nunez and Licciardi.
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