Brian Blades
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| Position: | Wide Receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | July 24, 1965 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Sunrise (FL) Piper | ||||||||
| College: | University of Miami | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1988 / Round: 2 / Pick: 49 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Brian Keith Blades (born July 24, 1965) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League.
Blades graduated from Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida in 1983. He attended the University of Miami.
He finished his college career with 80 catches for 1,493 yards and 15 TDs.[1]
After graduating, he was chosen in the 2nd round of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. Blades spent his entire eleven-year career with the Seahawks, playing for the team from 1988-1998. He signed a one-year contract with the Seahawks prior to the 1999 season, but was cut on June 5, 1999.
Manslaughter conviction and acquittal
Blades was charged with murder in the second degree for the death of his cousin, Charles Blades Jr. Blades initially pleaded "no contest" but later changed his plea to "not guilty" before the trial. Blades claimed the pistol accidentally discharged a round into his cousin during a struggle. During the trial, the prosecuting attorney and a gun expert staged a mock struggle with a blank filled gun, in which the gun accidentally discharged.
After a jury convicted Blades of manslaughter, the presiding Judge Susan Lebow overturned the verdict 72 hours later, citing the prosecution's failure to provide enough evidence for conviction.[2] The case was appealed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and the court upheld his acquittal.[3]
The jurors were sent the evidence and found him guilty. Judge Susan Lebow had the opportunity to dismiss the case before the trial started and again after the trial ended, before the jurors deliberated. She did dismiss the case based on lack of evidence. The defending attorney did not make a case after the prosecution closed. This did not sway the jurors, as they could have made a case to explain the lack of evidence. It emerged that the judge's father had employed the brothers while they were at UM, and that the defense attorney was part of the judge's divorce case. She had the ability to give him any sentence including probation to educate people about gun safety.
Personal
He is the older brother of former NFL cornerbacks Bennie Blades and Al Blades. He is also the uncle of former University of Pittsburgh and Washington Redskins linebacker H. B. Blades. He and his wife Tisha live in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
References
- ↑ http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/brian-blades-1.html
- ↑ "Court TV Casefiles: Florida v. Blades". Court TV Library.
- ↑ "Blades's AcquittalIs (sic) Upheld". The New York Times. October 24, 1997. Retrieved April 26, 2010.