CINCINNATI -- Former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Nate Webster, who is serving a 10 year sentence for having sex with the underage daughter of a former assistant coach, is asking for an early release from prison.

Prosecutors said Webster had sex with the girl several times in 2009 when she was 15. Webster said the sex occurred when she was 16, Ohio's legal age of consent.

The victim said the encounters began when she agreed to babysit Webster's kids at his home. She said Webster threatened to hurt her and her family if she told anyone.

Before the trial, Webster turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for four years.

Webster only has to serve 10 years of his 12-year prison sentence after the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ruled in 2013 that prosecutors didn't prove one of four counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Webster's wife, Jennifer, wrote to the Court of Common Pleas asking for her husband's judicial release.

She stated that Webster's incarceration has caused their family "tremendous hardship," and her husband accepts responsibility for his actions.

"Nathaniel... has seen the physical, emotion and financial ramification of his actions," wrote Jennifer.

He is expected to appear in court at 9 a.m.

Webster played for the Bengals in 2004-05. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2000-03) and Denver Broncos (2006-08).


(wcpo.com)

Former Cincinnati Bengal and convicted sex offender Nathaniel “Nate” Webster was in court Tuesday getting his 12-year prison sentence reduced to 10 years.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph Winkler did as a higher court ordered in September and cut Webster’s prison sentence by two years.

Webster, 35, was convicted in April 2012 of four counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He had sex with a 15-year-old babysitter who lived in his Symmes Township neighborhood. Webster, who was 31 when he had sex with the girl, and her family were also friends.

Her family repeatedly confronted Webster about their suspicions that he was having sex with their daughter, but Webster always denied it. The girl, though, told jurors she and Webster had sex several times at his home and in his car.

Two months ago, the Cincinnati-based Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals overturned one of the four charges of which Webster was convicted, noting that prosecutors didn’t prove that charge even though a jury found him guilty of it.

Webster signed a five-year, $11.3 million contract with the Bengals in 2004 but was released when injuries limited his playing time.


(cincinnatti.com)

Former Cincinnati Bengal Nathaniel “Nate” Webster won’t have to serve the entire 12-year prison sentence imposed on him last year after he was convicted of having sex with a minor.

The Cincinnati-based Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals issued a decision Wednesday that one of the unlawful sexual conduct with a minor charges of which Webster was convicted in 2012 should not have resulted in a conviction because prosecutors didn’t prove that charge during the trial.

The result is that the two years in prison that count carried have been sliced off of Webster’s original sentence. Now he has to serve a 10-year prison term.
“The state did not present evidence of sexual contact between (the victim) and Webster during December 2009, and (the victim) testified that she thought that Webster had left town in December 2009,” the appeals court’s unanimous ruling, authored by Presiding Judge Sylvia Hendon, noted.

Webster was convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old babysitter several times when he was 31 years old. The girl lived doors away from Webster; when her parents confronted him, he said repeatedly he was not having sex with the teen.

The teen testified at trial. though, that she had intercourse with Webster several times at his home and in his car.

The appeals court upheld convictions prosecutors won that showed Webster had sex with the teen in September, October and November 2009.

Court finds 'lack of proof' on one of the sex charges
“We do, however, find a lack of proof in regard to the December 2009 charge,” Wednesday’s decision noted. “The state presented no evidence that any sexual contact occurred between (the victim) and Webster during that month.”

Webster, 35, is inmate A665842 at the Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville, east of Columbus. The $40,000 fine and $3,400 in restitution he was ordered to pay the teen were unaffected by Wednesday’s ruling.

With the two years reduced from his original sentence, his prison term now expires in January 2022.

Webster signed a five-year, $11.3 million contract with the Bengals in 2004, but injuries limited him to a few games before the team released him.


(news.cincinnati.com)