Sentencing in Winslow sex-crime case delayed

Sentencing for former NFL player Kellen Winslow II, who faces up to 18 years in prison following his conviction for raping a homeless woman and other charges, has been pushed to March 18.

On Wednesday, the day Winslow was slated to be sentenced in a Vista courtroom, Superior Court Judge Blaine Bowman granted a request from Winslow’s attorneys to postpone the hearing, who in court documents cited a couple of reasons, including efforts to talk with a potential witness who could provide information in favor of their client. The prosecution did not oppose the month-long postponement.

Once a first-round NFL draft pick and the highest paid tight-end in the league, Winslow, 36, faces between 12 and 18 years in prison. According to court documents reviewed Wednesday, the prosecution is seeking the maximum sentence.

In June 2018, Winslow, who lived in Encinitas, was arrested, accused of raping homeless women and other sex crimes targeting women in Encinitas.

At trial in 2019, a jury found him guilty of one count of raping a 54year-old homeless Encinitas woman who he had convinced to join him for coffee, as well as two misdemeanor sexual misconduct charges involving two strangers. But the panel hung on other charges, including two counts of raping two other women.

Five months later, as his retrial was about to start — the jury was waiting in the hallway — Winslow pleaded guilty to two charges involving two victims: the 2003 rape of an unconscious teen and the 2018 sexual battery of a 54-year-old hitchhiker in Encinitas.

The defendant, who has been in county jail since March, is the son of Chargers icon Kellen Winslow.