A plea deal reached in a rape case against ex-NFL star Darren Sharper has been denied by a federal judge who cited that a nine-year prison sentence did not fit his crimes.
As we previously reported, per the plea deal last March, Sharper was sentenced to nine years behind bars, however, on Feb. 18, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rejected that deal.
"This court cannot accept this plea agreement," she told Sharper.
The Associated Press noted that the judge then said that the athlete and his attorneys have to decide by March 3 if they would like to withdraw the guilty plea from last year.
Sharper was arrested in 2014 and later charged with drugging and raping more than a dozen women in several states including Arizona, Nevada and Louisiana. The 40-year-old played in the NFL for 14 years and had stints with the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints before retiring in 2010.