Justin Bannan – Syndication Server

Ex-NFL lineman Justin Bannan convicted of attempted murder

Former NFL lineman Justin Bannan convicted of attempted murder

Former NFL defensive lineman Justin Bannan was convicted Friday in a Colorado court of multiple counts, including attempted murder. The charges stemmed from a 2019 shooting of a woman in Boulder.

A jury deliberated for eight hours before finding Bannan, who played for five NFL teams after a college career at the University of Colorado, guilty of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, and first-degree assault extreme indifference.

Jury members had considered the charge of attempted first-degree murder. After deliberation, they chose instead the lesser but included an attempted second-degree murder charge.

He was taken into custody. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5. He faces between 16 and 48 years in prison on the most serious count.

Bannan claimed he was not guilty by reason of insanity, a result of the effects of concussions and other head injuries from his career in the NFL.

Bannan shot an acupuncturist, Ashley Marie, in October 2019. He told police he “didn’t mean to shoot her,” and that he was just hiding in the room because the Russian mafia was after him and tracking his cellphone. He said he fired the gun only once and that it was an “accident.”

“In Roman times, people would come cheer the gladiators. And they were great,” his attorney Harvey Steinberg said, according to video of the proceedings published by Fox 31 in Denver. “And then when they were done with them, as you know historically, they fed them to the lions.”

Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2002, Bannan was carrying a rolled-up $20 with cocaine residue on it at the time

He played for the Bills, Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, and Denver Broncos in a career that spanned 2002-13.

USA Today has the details. To read them, click here.

Former Bills DT Justin Bannan facing up to 50 years in prison for shooting, cites CTE as reason

Former Buffalo Bills DT Justin Bannan on trail for shooting claims CTE caused him to think Russian Mafia was after him.

Justin Bannan was a fifth-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2002. The defensive tackle spent the first four years of his NFL career with the team. He spent 12 total years in the league also spending time with the Ravens, Broncos, Rams and Lions.

Now the 42-year-old is facing up to 50 yards in prison for the shooting of a woman in 2019. A recent story outlines how messy things have become for him, a tale which includes CTE.

Detailed by Tom Schad of USA TODAY the piece explains that the woman, Ashley Marie, an acupuncturist and a former basketball player at Colorado State University, was shot by Bannan, someone she didn’t even know. She was hit in the shoulder and survived the incident.

According to the report, Bannan was found at a picnic table near the building the incident occurred at. Bannan had claimed that the Russian Mafia was after him and hurried away from the shooting scene.

Via Schad:

The man was in his early 40s, wearing a black button-up shirt and dark jeans. He said he was sorry, but the Russian mafia was after him. He had to go.

When found, Bannan was sitting at a picnic table behind the building, allegedly with multiple handguns in bags he was carrying. He had a rolled up $20 bill that had traces of cocaine.

After being arrested, Bannan claimed he had hydrocephalus, which is fluid buildup in the brain. He also claimed that the incident was a direct result of head trauma, specifically CTE.

The story makes mention of a former teammate of Bannan with the Ravens who that said Bannan did use his own head as a sort of “battering ram” on the field. He had to even get his helmet replaced, at times, it was so beaten up.

Bannan is set to stand trial in June.

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Survivor of Justin Bannan shooting speaks out

Ashley Marie, an acupuncturist and former Colorado State basketball player, recounts being shot by retired NFL player Justin Bannan in 2019. Bannan has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to an attempted murder charge.

Ex-Broncos DL Justin Bannan pleads not guilty by reason of insanity for attempted murder

Former Broncos defensive lineman Justin Bannan has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for attempted murder and other charges.

Former Denver Broncos defensive lineman Justin Bannan has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for attempted murder and other charges.

Bannan, 41, shot a co-worker, Ashley Marie, in the right shoulder last October. He has been charged with “attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault (extreme indifference), first-degree assault (intent to cause serious bodily injury) and first-degree burglary,” according to KDVR-TV’s Dara Bitler.

Bannan told police after he was arrested that he has hydrocephalus. The ex-defensive lineman also said the Russian mafia was following him. Bannan said he accidentally shot Marie and did not mean to hit her. Bannan will “undergo a mental health evaluation at a state hospital,” according to KDVR.

Bannan played college football at Colorado and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL draft. He went on to spend time with the Baltimore Ravens before spending a season in Denver in 2010. He then played one season with the St. Louis Rams, another season with the Broncos, and one season with the Detroit Lions before retiring.

In 32 games with Denver, Bannan totaled 67 tackles and one sack.

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Ex-NFL lineman pleads not guilty by reason of insanity in murder case

Former NFL lineman Justin Bannan entered a not guilty by insanity plea in an attempted murder case in Colorado.

A strange case of a former NFL lineman, Justin Bannan, facing multiple charges in an attempted murder took another bizarre twist Thursday.

The former Denver Bronco pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity as he faces attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault (extreme indifference), first-degree assault (intent to cause serious bodily injury), and first-degree burglary charges, KDVR reported.

Bannan, 41, was a fifth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2002. He played for the Bills from 2002-05 and the Baltimore Ravens from ’06-09.

He played in 16 games for the Broncos in 2010 and 2012, with stints with the St. Louis Rams in 2011 and the Detroit Lions in 2013.

Per KDVR:

According to an arrest affidavit, after Bannan was arrested, he told an officer he has hydrocephalus, which can lead to the loss of reasoning skills and other issues. Bannan reportedly told the officer he got rid of his cellphone because someone was using it to track him.

The officer also said Bannan told him he believed the Russian mafia was following him. He said he went into a dark room at Black Lab Sports to hide from the mafia.

Bannan reportedly said the shooting was an “accident,” saying he only fired once and did not mean to hit the woman.

The affidavit also states officers recovered items Bannan was carrying when he was arrested, including a rolled-up $20 bill with a white, powdery residue which tested positive for cocaine.

If found not guilty by reason of insanity, Bannon would be held at a psychiatric facility for treatment until he was deemed not to be a threat to himself or the community.

Boulder Deputy District Attorney Adrian Van Nice requested that Bannan be taken into custody for in-patient evaluation due to public safety concerns.

“By entering this plea today, what the defendant is saying is, ‘I did these things but my behavior is excused,’” Van Nice said. “As a result, the defendant is admitting that he poses the same risk today that the court could find that he poses at the end of trial.”

Van Nice also was concerned that CTE is a “complex” disease that might need more in-depth observation, and one that does not have treatment options.