Kellen Winslow II trial: Guilty of rape, indecent exposure, lewd conduct
Jeff Eisenberg ,Yahoo Sports•June 10, 2019
VISTA, Calif. — A conflicted jury in San Diego County found former NFL star Kellen Winslow II guilty of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman in 2018, but remained deadlocked on six additional felonies.
The jury also found him guilty Monday of indecent exposure involving an incident with a 58-year-old woman who was gardening in her front yard. That is a misdemeanor.
Winslow was also found guilty on a lewd conduct misdemeanor involving an incident with a 78-year-old woman in a health club in March 2019. He was found not guilty on another lewd conduct charge involving that same woman.
Winslow, 35, is now a convicted rapist and is still awaiting additional verdicts. He was charged on 12 counts, including seven felonies. The jurors said they were deadlocked on the remaining charges.
“For now, yes,” the jury foreman told Judge Blaine K. Bowman.
The jury returned to deliberate, but about an hour after the verdicts were read, Bowman received a fifth note: “We remain deadlocked on all remaining charges."
At that point, the defense vehemently urged the judge to declare a mistrial on the remaining charges. Bowman refused to do so Monday, requiring the jury to return Tuesday morning.
Winslow, wearing a dark suit and a yellow tie, looked surprised at the verdicts. He sipped water and tried to read some notes during the reading. He later shook his head to his attorneys and his family, including his father, Kellen Winslow, a Hall of Fame player for the San Diego Chargers.
The guilty verdicts pertain to charges by Jane Doe 2 (rape), Jane Doe 3 (indecent exposure) and Jane Doe 5 (lewd conduct).
Winslow faces 3-8 years in prison on the rape conviction, though he could face a larger sentence if the jury comes back with a second rape conviction. He also faces six months on the misdemeanor charges. The judge will decide the term at a sentencing hearing. The charge also requires registration as a sex offender.
Incredible fall for Winslow II
How Winslow’s life unraveled to this extent is a tale as confounding as it is disturbing. This is a man who seemingly had everything, a revered family name, a promising football career, an extravagant salary and a storybook marriage to his high school sweetheart.
Winslow is the son of Kellen Winslow Sr., an NFL Hall of Fame tight end who remains a beloved figure in the San Diego area. In the 1980s, the elder Winslow established the mold for today’s elite tight ends with his downfield pass-catching prowess as a centerpiece of innovative Chargers coach Don Coryell’s aerial attack.
Strong bloodlines no doubt helped fuel the younger Winslow’s rise from highly touted San Diego-area high school prospect, to All-American at the University of Miami, to sixth overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. Injuries from a 2005 motorcycle crash nearly forced him to quit football, but he recovered to earn more than $40 million in salary during a 10-year NFL career highlighted by four seasons with 75 or more catches and a 2007 invitation to the Pro Bowl.
Whereas Kellen Sr. was known for his trademark humility during his football career, the younger Winslow often made headlines with his volatility and bravado.
At Miami, he nicknamed himself “The Chosen One” because he believed he possessed athletic gifts no other player could match. He also unapologetically described himself as a “f----- soldier” when reporters dared question him for standing over and taunting a shaken University of Tennessee player after delivering a hard-hitting block.
"It's war," Winslow II said then. "They're out there to kill you, so I'm out there to kill them.”
The stature of the Winslow family and the graphic nature of the case ensured that his rape trial would attract as much media coverage as a big-time sporting event. Court TV aired the entire three-week trial from gavel to gavel and reporters from San Diego-area and national outlets were a daily courtroom presence.
The trial centered on the accusations of five women who didn’t know one another and had no apparent connections besides their encounters with Winslow.
Prosecutor Dan Owens attempted to prove Winslow was a predator who targeted vulnerable women, took from them for his sexual pleasure and then discarded them “like a piece of trash because that’s what he thought they were.” Winslow’s high-priced defense attorneys countered by seizing on the holes and inconsistencies in the alleged victims’ stories in hopes of showing that their client was a victim of wrongful accusations or mistaken identity.