Deion Sanders trying to avoid testifying at son's trial in person
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An attorney for Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has outlined his conditions under which Sanders might testify at his son Shilo’s bankruptcy trial after accepting service of a subpoena on Sanders’ behalf.
The trial in Denver starts Aug. 31 and will last approximately five days, creating an uncomfortable conflict for Deion Sanders. The Colorado football team leaves the next day, Sept. 1, for a road game to open the season at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3.
Sanders’ attorney Harvey Steinberg said he wants Sanders to appear virtually for any testimony, instead of in person, if he must testify at all, according to an updated filing in the case Aug. 20.
It will be up to the judge in the case, Michael E. Romero, if Sanders testifies and under what conditions.
Letter from Deion Sanders' attorney spells out conditions he wants
Steinberg has not yet filed a motion to quash the subpoena but stated his position in a letter to the attorney for the plaintiff in the case, John Darjean. Romero said at a pretrial hearing some testimony from Deion Sanders “may be relevant,” contrary to what Steinberg states in his letter dated Aug. 17.
Steinberg asserts Deion Sanders’ testimony might be relevant only if Shilo Sanders’ attorney, Victor Vital, opens the door to it by bringing up certain topics at trial.
“We have determined that the best way to proceed is as follows: the Judge has stated that Mr. Sanders testimony would be irrelevant unless the door was opened by defendant's counsel Mr. Vital,” Steinberg said in his Aug. 17 letter to Ori Raphael, Darjean’s attorney.
“Mr. Vital has assured me that he has no intention of opening that door. However, should the Judge rule and determine that Mr. Sanders testimony has become relevant, we have agreed that Mr. Sanders will make himself available to appear virtually for any testimony,” Steinberg’s letter states. “As a result, acceptance of the subpoena is now moot, and you can contact me should Mr. Sanders unexpectedly need to testify. I will arrange for his presence virtually upon reasonable notice."
Shilo Sanders, 26, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 with more than $11 million in debt, almost all owed to Darjean, a security guard at his former school in Dallas. Darjean sued Sanders and accused him of causing him permanent injuries in 2015 when he tried to confiscate his phone at school at his father’s request. Darjean then won a $11.89 million default judgment in the case after Shilo Sanders dumped his attorneys in 2020 and didn’t show up at trial in 2022.
Judge wants to keep testimony limited to events on one day in 2015
The issue at trial is whether Sanders can discharge that debt. Darjean is fighting to collect all of it and has argued Shilo Sanders is not allowed a discharge under the law because it stems from a “willful and malicious injury.” Shilo Sanders’ defense is that he acted in self-defense, not with malicious intent, and therefore is entitled to free himself from the debt.
The judge wants to limit the trial to the events of the incident on Sept. 17, 2015, with some limited exceptions. Deion Sanders was on the phone with Darjean before the incident that day.
“Conceivably, that conversation may be relevant,” the judge said at the pretrial conference Aug. 14.
The judge asked Raphael, Darjean’s attorney, what else he wanted to ask Deion Sanders about as a witness. Raphael responded that Victor Vital, Shilo Sanders’ attorney, might open the door to “some previous incidents that made Shilo afraid.”
Deion Sanders also previously testified in pretrial depositions for the Texas lawsuit filed by Darjean against Shilo Sanders in 2016. Sanders is about to start fourth season at Colorado after finishing 3-9 last year, 9-4 in 2024 and 4-8 in 2023.
The trial starting Aug. 31 will be a bench trial, decided by a judge, not a jury trial.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders trying to avoid testifying at son's trial in person
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