Ex-lineman Sharpe gets 6-year sentence for drug offenses

From Call wire services

May 11, 2008

Former NFL lineman Luis Sharpe was sentenced Friday to six years in prison and four years' probation for a series of drug offenses.

Sharpe, 47, played for the St. Louis and Arizona Cardinals from 1982-94 and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

In a pre-sentence report, Sharpe admitted that he first started using cocaine when he was a 21-year-old rookie in the NFL and it was ''the worst mistake I ever made.''

Sharpe has been convicted of nine felonies since 1995 and spent several months in prison after a drug conviction in 2000. He also was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison in 2004 on other drug charges.

Last month, Sharpe pleaded guilty to four charges stemming from separate arrests for possessing crack cocaine in July and November of 2007 and February 2008.

He was sentenced in Maricopa County (Ariz.) Superior Court to six years in prison on two of the charges, to be served concurrently. He was placed on probation for the other two charges.

Brother of Jets safety fatally shot: The older brother of New York Jets safety Abram Elam was fatally shot, the third sibling in the family to die by gunfire since 1987.

Riviera Beach police officers were called to the scene of a shooting at about 12:35 p.m. Friday, and found Donald Charles Elam shot in the lower back, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office news release.

Donald Elam, 33, was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

The Palm Beach Post reported that Abram Elam's brother, Donald Runner, was fatally shot in 1987. He was 17. Christina Elam, his sister, was shot in 1999.

Donald Elam was once the youngest person in the Palm Beach County indicted on a first-degree murder charge, the Post said. Elam, then 14, was acquitted of the 1989 shooting.

Manningham, Woodson hurt in Giants minicamp: Receiver Mario Manningham and quarterback André Woodson were sidelined by injuries Saturday during the New York Giants' minicamp for rookies and free agents.

A third-round draft pick from Michigan, Manningham suffered a hip flexor on his left side running a pull-up pattern early in the morning workout.

Manningham said the injury happened because he did not run his pattern right.

''It ain't nothing bad or serious,'' Manningham said. ''If it was serious I would not be walking.''

Woodson pulled a quad muscle in his left leg a short time later. The injury happened as the sixth-round draft pick from Kentucky was scrambling to his left during an 11-on-11 drill.

''I don't know what happened,'' Woodson said. ''I'm kind of disappointed I'm not out there for my first minicamp. I just can't wait to get back out there and do some good things.''

Woodson threw an interception on his first pass in minicamp on Friday, but he felt he improved a lot in the second workout in the afternoon.

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Ex-lineman Sharpe gets 6-year sentence for drug offenses

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Ex-lineman Sharpe gets 6-year sentence for drug offenses

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