Who is Justin Bannan? Ex-NFL lineman convicted of murder

Former NFL player Justin Bannan convicted of murder

Justin Bannan was a fifth-round pick out of Colorado by the Buffalo Bills in 2002. Bannan was a first-team All-Big 12 defensive tackle who played out his rookie deal with the Bills. Justin Bannan joined the Baltimore Ravens for the 2006 season and posted his best season in 2008: 30 solo tackles, 56 total tackles, one sack, and one INT. The Denver Broncos gave him a five-year contract in 2010, but was released after one season. Justin Bannan bounced around the league with stints with the Rams, back to Denver, and the Detroit Lions before retiring in 2013.

Justin Bannan ended up playing about 12 seasons in the NFL, which is respectable for a fifth-round pick. His stats weren't so impressive in that span, though, which could be a result of bouncing from team to team: 310 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and five forced fumbles. Bannan was relatively unknown in the NFL, but he sure made his name known off the field.

In 2019, there was a shooting that wounded a woman in Boulder, Colorado. The woman, 36-year-old Ashley Marie, was shot in a building that housed Justin Bannan's sports business at the time and Marie worked as an acupuncturist within the same building. According to authorities, Justin Bannan waited for the woman to show up to work and he proceeded to shoot her in the shoulder.

Justin Bannan was found carrying a rolled-up $20 bill with traces of cocaine on it and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after claiming the incident came from the Russian mafia chasing him. Bannan's defense lawyers claim concussions from his NFL career led to him having severe paranoia. During his trial this week, the jury found Justin Bannan guilty of charges of attempted murder and first-degree assault. The attempted murder charge alone warrants 16-48 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for November 5th, 2021.

It's a tragic story from both sides, but at least Ashley Marie survived the shooting. As for Justin Bannan, it's unclear at this time if his insanity plea will be validated. It wouldn't be a surprise if Justin Bannan, in fact, has brain damage from his time in the NFL. CTE and other traumatic brain injuries have been confirmed from many cases of former NFL players and it has been a hot topic for the last decade. Some former players have committed suicide and others have acted out of brain injuries.

Justin Bannan's defense used his potential CTE to warrant an insanity plea. He will likely go under psychological evaluation prior to his sentencing, but it could also be paranoia from drug use, as he was found with trace amounts of cocaine. It could also be a mixture of the two, in which case Justin Bannan was a ticking time bomb.

We will keep an eye on the case as it develops ahead of his sentencing in November. If it ends up being CTE after all, it'll be just another example to use for developing better safety practices within the NFL and the game of football overall.