Jury convicts Bannan of attempted murder
Justin Bannan, the former NFL and University of Colorado Boulder lineman, was found guilty Friday night of shooting a woman in 2019 by a Boulder County jury following an eightday trial.
Bannan, 41, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder extreme indifference, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree assault extreme indifference. Jury members had considered the charge of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, but they chose instead the lesser but included attempted second-degree murder charge.
Jurors deliberated for about eight hours Friday before reaching a verdict. The sentencing is set for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 5. The sentencing range for the most serious charge is 16 to 48 years in state prison.
Bannan had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
His defense team previously alluded to his football career and the possibility that Bannan had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly
known as CTE. That continued Friday during closing arguments, with emphasis on the brain injuries that made him sick and caused paranoia.
“Clearly, there was evidence of injury to the brain,” Defense Attorney Harvey Steinberg said Friday. “There’s no question.”
However, the prosecution argued that it’s much more about the choices Bannan made on Oct. 16, 2019, when according to police, he used a handgun to shoot a 36-year-old woman in the arm at Black Lab Sports, 3550 Frontier Ave. The prosecution also argued that it needed to prove Bannan intended to kill someone that night, not that there was a specific reason for his alleged intent to do so.
“We don’t have to prove motive,” Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Christine Rinke said. “We don’t have to prove why.”
The woman shot in 2019, later identified as Ashley Marie, was taken to Boulder Community Health’s Foothills Hospital with injuries that were not lifethreatening.
According to an affidavit, Marie was unlocking her therapy room in the building when Bannan, who was already in the room, shot her in the shoulder while she was standing in the doorway.
Marie said she knew Bannan, but only because he was part-owner of the building and she would occasionally see him pass in the hallway. Bannan is listed as the co-founder of Black Lab Sports, but Marie worked for a company called Element 6 that operates inside the same building but is not a part of Black Lab Sports.
When police found Bannan at the scene, he was carrying a bag containing two loaded handguns, along with an extra magazine. They also found a rolled-up $20 bill coated with a white substance that tested positive for cocaine.
Bannan told police he “didn’t mean to shoot her,” and that he was just hiding in the room because the Russian mafia was after him and tracking his cellphone. He said he fired the gun only once and that it was an “accident.”
Bannan played for the CU Buffs from 1997 to 2001 before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2002. He spent 11 years in the NFL, including two stints with the Denver Broncos.