Darren Sharper Sentenced to 20 Years for Rape: Latest Details and Comments

A Los Angeles judge sentenced former NFL safety Darren Sharper to 20 years in prison Tuesday after the 41-year-old pleaded no contest to raping two women as part of a plea deal for charges in multiple states, according to the Los Angeles Times' Corina Knoll. 

In July 2015, Sharper entered a guilty plea in a Louisiana court to resolve court cases in that state as well as California, Arizona and Nevada.

Prosecutors had originally agreed to allow Sharper to serve a nine-year prison sentence as part of his case in Louisiana, but a federal judge instead handed down an 18-year sentence to Sharper in August. In March 2015, an Arizona judge also sentenced him to nine years in federal prison.

According to Knoll, Sharper's multiple prison sentences will be served concurrently rather than consecutively.

As part of Sharper's sentencing hearing Tuesday, one of his victims gave a statement to the court:

"

I can only imagine myself lying there like a vegetable while he took advantage of my body without my permission. I have lost every bit of self confidence I've ever had and am always in fear while alone. It doesn't matter whether it's day or night, I can see a guy and automatically in my head think, 'What if this guy tries to rape me?'

"

In October, Erik Nunez and Brandon Licciardi, a former St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, deputy sheriff, received prison sentences of 10 and 17 years, respectively, for their roles in helping Sharper commit his crimes. They admitted to giving women drugs with the intent of raping them, according to the Times-Picayune's Ken Daley. Licciardi pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree rape as well.

The Associated Press reported in August that Sharper drugged and raped potentially up to 16 women in Nevada, California, Louisiana and Arizona.