Kellen Winslow Sr. yells at prosecutor as son's retrial begins

Brent Schrotenboer | USA TODAY

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VISTA, Calif. – A few minutes before opening statements were set to begin here in the retrial of Kellen Winslow II, the former NFL star’s famous father glared at the man who is trying to put his son behind bars for life.

“Do not look over here,” Winslow Sr. said loudly in the court room Monday during a recess.

Winslow Sr. apparently had made eye contact with San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Dan Owens, who is prosecuting his son on rape and sodomy charges. Winslow Sr., a Pro Football Hall of Famer, didn’t like it. So he raised his voice and said it again.

“Do not look over here,” Winslow Sr. said to Owens, who then summoned the bailiff. The bailiff then motioned the father outside the courtroom, where opening statements were delayed until after the lunch hour, though it’s not clear if the delay was related to the outburst.

So began the first scheduled day of testimony in the retrial of Winslow, 36, who came to court Monday clutching a green paperback Bible. He stands accused of kidnapping and raping a hitchhiker in March 2018, sodomizing a homeless woman in May 2018 and raping an unconscious woman at a party in 2003.

Winslow Sr. has attended virtually all of his son’s court proceedings, often dressed in suit seated a few feet behind his son in the gallery. He never speaks unless to those close to him or to chide news media he thinks are following his family.

In June, a different jury of eight men and four women convicted Winslow of raping the same homeless woman, exposing himself to a neighbor down the street last year and engaging in lewd conduct against a woman at a local gym in February, all ages 57 or older.

BREAKING DOWN THE CASE: Kellen Winslow II's second rape trial brings high stakes, tough questions

Those guilty verdicts still stand and could put him away for up to nine years. But the first jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict as required on eight of the other charges, including the allegations involving the hitchhiker and the woman from 2003. That led Judge Blaine Bowman to declare a mistrial on those counts and tee them up for a new trial in front of a new jury, this time comprising six women and six men, all apparently white.

The retrial is scheduled to last several weeks and is different from the first trial in a few key areas. Instead of facing 12 criminal charges involving five alleged victims, as he did in the first trial, Winslow is facing six criminal charges involving three alleged victims, each of whom also testified in the first trial:

► Jane Doe 1 is the hitchhiker who said Winslow picked her up in his vehicle and took her behind a local strip mall to rape her. His DNA was found in the crotch area of her pants, and Winslow’s attorneys have said the sex was consensual.

► Jane Doe 2 is the homeless woman who said Winslow picked her up for coffee but instead took her to a dark spot on the side of the road and raped her. The first jury believed her, convicting him of rape but deadlocked by a 10-2 margin in favor of his guilt on whether he sodomized her in the same incident.

► Jane Doe 4 is the woman from 2003 who said Winslow raped her at party while she was unconscious.

If convicted of additional forcible sex crimes, Winslow could face life in prison after earning about $40 million in the NFL from 2004 to 2013. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys previously said the women were mistaken, out for money or that the sex was consensual, not rape.

The new jury is not going to decide the case of Jane Doe 5, the woman from the local gym who accused Winslow of masturbating in a hot tub next to her in February. The first jury acquitted him of that charge but convicted him of lewd conduct stemming from a separate incident at the same gym. Two other charges stemming from her encounters with him – elder abuse and battery – deadlocked the first jury but won’t be part of this retrial, according to a ruling by the judge last week.

The new jury also will not decide the case of Jane Doe 3, the neighbor in the indecent exposure case. That’s because the first jury convicted him of that misdemeanor. But she still will factor in the new trial, according to another ruling by the judge last week. Judge Bowman allowed the new jury to learn about his guilty verdicts in her case and the case of Jane Doe 2, which could help the new jury consider whether Winslow had a propensity to commit other sex offenses at issue in the retrial.

His attorneys fought this and even asked for his convictions to be reversed on the grounds that Winslow was denied due process by having the indecent exposure case joined with the rape cases in the first trial. The judge denied this request last week.

The jury began the day in court by hearing instructions from the judge, who told them not to read news accounts of Winslow’s alleged crimes.

“Do not Google Mr. Winslow’s name,” he told them.

Opening statements and testimony then were delayed after the outburst and other unannounced issues being played out in the judge’s chambers. After initially being scheduled for the morning, opening statements were rescheduled to 4:30 p.m. ET Monday. This story will be updated.