Darren Sharper’s defense attorney is pushing back hard on the cases against the former NFL player. According to TMZ, attorney Blair Berk laid out several arguments in legal documents filed in May 2014 as she works to get the cases dismissed.
Sharper was charged in Los Angeles in February 2014 with rape and related felonies. He has denied the allegations, saying that one encounter was consensual and that he did not know the other accuser. He has also faced investigations in other states, including a New Orleans case in which police had issued an arrest warrant. These are allegations, and none of the cases has been decided in court.
Here is what TMZ reported Berk argued in her filings.
In Miami Beach, Berk says police declined to file any criminal charges against Sharper and have closed their investigation.
In the Los Angeles case, Berk says rape kit testing found DNA from other men on the clothing of the two accusers. She alleges the district attorney has not turned over the names or any other information about those men.
In the Arizona case, Berk claims the lead detective gave misleading testimony by suggesting Sharper’s DNA had been found on an accuser’s clothing. She says the detective testified as if he were reading from a forensic report, and that he later admitted that was not accurate.
In Las Vegas, Berk says neither of the two women who made allegations complained about an alleged assault the following day, and she argues that the surrounding evidence does not support the claims.
Berk also argues that prosecutors in New Orleans are relying on a witness who is facing questions of his own, which she says undermines the case.
These are the claims of the defense, and prosecutors have their own side to present. We have not seen a response from prosecutors to these specific arguments. Whether any of this holds up will be up to the courts, and Baller Alert will keep you posted as the cases move forward.
Source: TMZ
