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Prosecutors to Retry Kellen Winslow Jr. on Rape Charges

Prosecutors said Friday that former pro football player Kellen Winslow Jr. will be retried after a jury convicted him of raping a homeless woman but failed to agree on eight other criminal charges

Former pro football player Kellen Winslow Jr. will be retried after a jury convicted him of raping a homeless woman but failed to agree on eight other criminal charges, including the rape of a 54-year-old hitchhiker and an unconscious teen in 2003, California prosecutors said Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Owens said at a hearing in San Diego County Superior Court that five women who testified against Winslow at the first trial will be back on the witness stand at a second trial set for September.

"A sexual assault victim having to go forward with testimony in court a second time is never easy so we will certainly support them through that process," Owens said.

Winslow, who played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New England and the New York Jets, was convicted Monday of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman and two counts of lewd conduct involving two other women.

A judge declared a mistrial on the remaining charges after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked. The remaining charges include six felonies, including the two counts of rape and a sodomy charge for the attack on the homeless woman. Winslow also will be retried on two misdemeanor charges of elderly battery and abuse.

One of the convictions for a lewd act occurred in front of a 77-year-old woman at his gym, although he was acquitted of the same charge involving the same woman on a different occasion at the gym.

If convicted of multiple accounts of forcible sex offenses, Winslow would face up to life in prison. The single conviction carries a maximum sentence of nine years.

The judge denied a defense request that Winslow, 35, be released on $1 million bail and home confinement with GPS monitoring. Prosecutors said that while he was free on bail last January Winslow approached an 18-year-old high school senior walking near his home in Encinitas and told her she was attractive and asked where she lived. The lewd act in front of the 77-year-old woman he was convicted of also happened while he was out on bail.

The judge ruled him a danger to the community and a flight risk, especially now that he has been convicted.

Winslow earned more than $40 million over 10 seasons in the NFL and is the son of Chargers Hall of Fame receiver Kellen Winslow, who attended all of the first trial and Friday's hearing.

His defense attorneys attacked the credibility of the five women and pointed out inconsistencies in their stories in the first trial. They say the sex was consensual.

Winslow did not testify and his attorneys declined to say whether he will at the second trial. They say they plan to appeal the convictions.

His new trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 30. His lawyers asked for his sentencing hearing to be postponed until he is retried.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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