Many have asked how former Green Bay Packers safety Darren Sharper was able to turn a plea agreement as a serial rapist into just a 10-year prison sentence, but details of the agreement show that the former All-Pro with the Packers in 2000 and the New Orleans Saints in 2009 will deal with a lifetime’s worth of consequences.
According to The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), Sharper will be sentenced to 20 years in prison, but can be released in 10 if he stays out of trouble while incarcerated.
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He also is receiving credit for the more than a year he spent in custody following his arrest in February 2015 and will serve just shy of 8½ years in a federal penitentiary before going to a state prison in California for the remainder of his term.
But there are several provisions in the deal that could keep Sharper behind bars for the full 20 years of his sentence should be violate the terms of California’s parole for sex offenders.
Sharper will be under those terms for three to five years after his release from prison and, should he successfully complete that, will have 72 hours in which to move to Arizona to begin a lifetime probation term as a registered sex offender.
Violation of his probation in Arizona would result in a 14-year suspended sentence in that state being imposed.
Sharper as snitch
The deal also requires Sharper to provide information about his crimes and accomplices to investigators, prosecutors, grand juries and trial juries whenever he is requested to do so. Sharper has two co-defendants in the rape cases he pleaded out to in New Orleans who could be directly affected by Sharper’s testimony.
The former NFL star leveraged that information to receive leniency in sentencing. If Sharper is found to not be cooperating fully with authorities, the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court could remand Sharper into a Louisiana state prison to serve out his 20-year term.
The court could also put him on trial for aggravated rape or perjury, either of which could carry a life sentence if convicted.
Constant monitoring
Sharper will be required to wear a GPS monitoring device for the rest of his life and he will be prohibited from traveling more than 50 miles from his approved place of residence. He also has to notify his parole officer in advance of driving a car and will have to keep a detailed log of his travels for the officer supervising his parole in California.
He is further barred from living within 35 miles of either of his victims in California, will be subject to a curfew and is barred from accepting a job that could allow him to enter the home of a stranger.
In Arizona, Sharper has to live somewhere that is approved by the state’s probation department, would need written permission to leave the county and a written permit to leave the state.
He also cannot move out of Arizona unless the move is approved by a federal judge and by authorities in all four states (Arizona, California, Louisiana and Nevada) involved in the plea agreement.
Sharper is prohibited from ever consuming alcohol and must provide urine or breath samples upon demand by authorities.
He is also considered a narcotics offender in California and must complete a substance-abuse program. He is banned from using electronic devices for the seeking of “sexual gratification” and cannot use an electronic communications device for “any purpose which might further sexual activity.”
Sharper can’t go within 100 yards of a sexually oriented business nor possess “sexually oriented devices.” Further, he cannot place or answer any type of personal ad that seeks or solicits “a relationship with a stranger.”
He is also under a strict curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Halloween and the following day, nor can he have any contact—or attempted contact—with any of the victims.
A penile … what?
The most … interesting … aspect of the deal is Sharper must submit to “penile plethysmograph testing” while on probation in Arizona.
A sensor is attached to the genitals to measure the degree of arousal to certain forms of stimulus.
Sounds delightful, no?
The device has actually been around for almost a half-century, but is not widely accepted by the courts or the scientific community, according to a report for the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, because some sex offenders have been able to alter results by concentrating on memories or other non-sexual thoughts.
The deal isn’t a fait accompli yet, either. It won’t become effective until Sharper pleads guilty to federal drug chargers and to three sexual assaults in New Orleans—two counts of forcible rape and one count of simple rape.
Plus the deal has to be approved by both a federal and state judge in New Orleans.
Final pleas and approval aren’t scheduled until June 15.
The Hall question
It’s an ignominious end for a man who had been fairly widely held as a good guy during his 14-year NFL career with the Packers, Minnesota Vikings and the Saints.
A stickier question will be Sharper’s eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He becomes eligible next year and with 63 career interceptions (seventh all time) and 13 defensive touchdowns (tied for the most in NFL history), he is a legitimate candidate, based on what happened between the white lines.
It’s further complicated by the rules of the Hall of Fame’s selection committee, whose 46 members are explicitly instructed to only consider a candidate’s on-field performance.
FanSided
“In light of the long overdue renewed emphasis on player conduct by both the NFL and the NFL Players Association, I think there should be an open and honest discussion and debate about whether the Hall of Fame’s bylaws should be reconsidered,” ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio, a Hall of Fame selector, told ProPublica.org. “And I think the league and the players would welcome that debate and should be a part of it.”
Peter King of Sports Illustrated, however, said he’s against a rule change that would block felons from being enshrined because it would subject candidates to variances in the law that can be arbitrary at times, with crimes that are misdemeanors in one jurisdiction being treated as felonies in others.
King’s point is that he doesn’t believe “people who cover football for a living” are qualified to weigh which crimes merit exclusion and which ones don’t.
If everyone on the committee follows the existing letter of the bylaws, Sharper stands a decent chance of being enshrined.
Given that the committee member is made up of human beings, that likelihood goes down exponentially, I have to believe.