Tougher charges of rape and drug abuse

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former NFL star Darren Sharper put to rest any doubts Monday that he drugged and raped women by taking the first of several legal steps to plead guilty to sexual assault charges in four states that will earn him a prison sentence of about nine years.
In two separate cases, Sharper pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Arizona and to raping two women in California after he beat them unconscious with a powerful sedative mixed with alcohol.
Sharper, 39, wearing a striped light blue suit, said it was in his best interest to plead guilty.
The hearings came as Los Angeles prosecutors were prepared to present evidence of Sharper’s downfall as a former All-Pro safety who won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints. His reputation as a clean player suffered as women told police in several cities similar stories of passing out while drinking with him and waking up dazed to find they had been sexually assaulted.
The defense had previously stated that the sex was consensual. A lawyer had stated that Sharper had not mixed the sleep-inducing shot glasses.
But Sharper was unable to defend himself in court on Monday.
By pleading no contest to the California charges, he admits to raping two women he drugged after meeting them at a West Hollywood bar, raping the first in October 2013 and the second in January 2014. The confessions have the same effect as a conviction.
Both encounters were incredibly similar.
In October, Sharper invited a woman and her friend he had met at the Bootsy Bellows nightclub to a party. On the way there, he said he had to pick up something from his hotel in Century City and invited them upstairs.
He insisted they take a sip of alcohol, which caused both of them to pass out. One of the women woke up the next morning and Sharper had sex on top of her. Her friend woke up in an adjoining room, interrupted the act, and both women left.
The women did not appear in court, but prosecutors said they agreed to the deal.
Under the unusual agreement that Shaper’s lawyers negotiated with state and federal prosecutors, Sharper will serve his sentence concurrently in a federal prison, but the full term has not been announced.
He was immediately sentenced to nine years in prison in Arizona, and faces 20 years in California when he is sentenced on July 15. However, because he only has to serve half of the sentence for the crimes committed in California and the 13 months he spent in prison will be credited, he will spend about nine more years behind bars, according to lawyers.
If convicted on all counts, he would have faced up to 33 years in prison in California, but he would likely have already served half of that time.
Former Los Angeles District Attorney Jeffery Rubenstein said the sentence was not a light blow for Sharper but spared him a much longer and harsher prison sentence, especially if he had to serve it in state prison, where punishment is notoriously harsher than in federal prisons.
“This could have been really bad and most likely this guy would never have seen the light of day,” Rubenstein said.
From the prosecution’s point of view, they succeeded in sparing the victims from having to relive the event through their testimony and the examination of their credibility by an experienced team of defense attorneys, Rubenstein said.
Hearings will be held in Las Vegas on Tuesday and in New Orleans next month. In both states, he is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting women when they were unconscious or otherwise unable to resist or consent.
Sharper’s arrest came several years after his 14-year NFL career ended in 2011, but it had repercussions as the league grappled with its off-field problems, with players being charged with crimes ranging from spousal abuse to murder. Sharper was working as an analyst for the NFL Network at the time.
Sharper, who has been in prison in Los Angeles since February 2014, appeared in court in Phoenix via video conference and admitted to sexually assaulting one woman and attempting to assault another in a Phoenix suburb in 2013. According to police, he drugged three women and sexually assaulted two of them in a Tempe apartment in November 2013.
Prosecutor Yigael Cohen quoted a letter on Monday in which one of the victims said she had suffered psychological damage from the attack and had been unable to defend herself.
A search of the Tempe apartment turned up a shot glass with a white residue that was the sedative zolpidem. California investigators also found that Sharper had a prescription for the drug.

In the California case, he pleaded no contest to four counts of delivery of zolpidem, a controlled substance sold under the brand name Ambien.

Sharper was told that he could not change his mind later and withdraw the California application, and that it would remain in place even if the deals in other states fell through.

“To put it in popular terms, do you understand that this is a final answer?” said Judge Michael Pastor.

“Yes, sir,” Sharper replied.

Sharper is expected to plead guilty to attempted sexual assault in Nevada on Tuesday and faces up to eight years in prison, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told the Associated Press.