AP

Former NFL safety Darren Sharper negotiated a plea deal that called for him to spend nine years behind bars. Ultimately, he could end up being imprisoned a lot longer than that — or, in theory, not at all.

Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today reports that Sharper’s case is back on track for trial, for reasons not yet known.

“Recent developments have led to a resumption of plea negotiations and, prior to that, neither party expected Mr. Sharper to go to trial,” attorneys representing the prosecution and defense said in a document filed in court on Wednesday. “The change in case posture, however, has now dictated that the defendant and the prosecution must now prepare for a more complex trial. This means that the government will, at this point, have to prepare over a dozen new witnesses from several other states to testify and, concomitantly, Mr. Sharper must prepare to defend against them.”

The “recent developments” may have been a rejection of the plea agreement by a federal judge.

Without more information, it’s impossible to know why the case is back on for trial or what the issues to be determined by a jury could be. Ultimately, it could mean that Sharper will serve more than nine years for rapes via drugging that occurred in four different states. Many have criticized the proposed sentence as being too light.