Ex-NFL Player Kellen Winslow Jr. Convicted Of Raping Homeless Woman

A former NFL player has been found guilty of raping a homeless woman and awaits a jury's verdict on additional sexual assault charges related to alleged attacks on other women.

A San Diego jury reached a conclusion on four of 12 counts Kellen Winslow Jr is currently facing. He was found guilty of rape, indecent exposure, and lewd conduct. He was found not guilty of a misdemeanor charge for the committing of a lewd act. The jury will continue to consider the remaining charges.

Five women in total testified against Winslow. Three of the five have accused Winslow Jr. of rape. The jury is still deliberating on felony charges resulting from two of the three rape accusations. The lesser charges were the result of a series of separate acts allegedly committed by Winslow Jr. between March 2018 and February 2019. 

Winslow Jr. was found guilty of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman he'd invited for coffee in Encinitas, California, according to The Associated Press. The second accusation of rape was made by a 54-year-old hitchhiker who said non-consensual sex occurred in Winslow's Hummer, which had been parked at a shopping center in Encinitas in March 2018. The third felony charge stems from a woman who has accused him of raping her while she was unconscious at a San Diego party in 2003. She made the accusation after he had been arrested in the first two cases. He was 19 years old at the time of that alleged crime; she was 17.

The other charges pertain to separate incidents in which Winslow allegedly exposed and touched himself. A 57-year-old woman says Winslow showed her his penis while she gardened at her home in Encinitas, California in May of 2018. A 77-year-old woman said Winslow masturbated in front of her at a gym in Carlsbad, California while Winslow was free on $2 million bail in February of this year.

Winslow did not take the stand during the trial, according to The Washington Post.

During the trial, deputy district attorney Dan Owens dismissed the idea that this was a "he said, she said" situation and characterized Wilson as a "wolf in sheep's clothing."

“This case is a ‘she said’ and ‘she said’ and ‘she said’ and ‘she said’ and 'she said.’ Five separate women, five separate victims, all corroborated by each other," Owens said, according to Yahoo Sports. “This man is a sexual predator who has victimized all of these women. Lightning certainly doesn’t strike twice, let alone five times.”

Winslow’s attorney, Marc Carlos, countered Owens' argument.

“You will not get an instruction anywhere that says, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,’" said Carlos, who had pointed out inconsistent in the stories told by the women testifying against his client, according to Yahoo Sports. “You will not get that one. But what you will get is that each charge must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, each and every charge. Do not fall into the trap of picking pieces of evidence and making another case stronger. It doesn’t work that way.”

Defense attorneys argued that the women had been seeking money from the wealthy athlete and that the sexual encounters were consensual. All five of the women said they were unaware of Winslow's fame when they met him. Prosecutors argued that DNA evidence and GPS data implicate him in the crimes.

The jury was deadlocked on eight charges before they left on Monday. Their deliberation is set to resume on May 11.

Winslow Jr. is the son of Kellen Winslow, a Hall of Fame football player. Winslow Jr. played at the University of Miami before spending 10 years in the NFL. He played mostly for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.