Former CFL QB Cody Ledbetter found dead in Texas

[sj-roc]

From the sounds of it this guy was not well mentally. He'd built up a rap sheet in his post-CFL years after returning home and had even fled back to Canada for several years as a fugitive before surrendering, a story I vaguely recall hearing at the time. He had recently been paroled from prison and appears to have taken his own life.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/09/07/o ... nt-suicide

One-time Eskimos quarterback Cody Ledbetter dies in apparent suicide
By Gerry Moddejonge, Edmonton Sun
First posted: Monday, September 07, 2015 07:21 PM MDT | Updated: Monday, September 07, 2015 08:55 PM MDT

A one-time Edmonton Eskimos quarterback was found dead after apparently committing suicide, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Monday.

Forty-two-year-old Cody Ledbetter, who was with the club in 1996 before spending time with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in what was a short-lived professional career, was found dead in Aledo, Texas.

Ledbetter had been extradited from Ottawa five years ago when he was charged with having an improper relationship with a student.

But it was hardly the first of his legal issues. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old in the U.S. before facing a similar charge involving another young victim and fleeing to Canada prior to being sentenced.

Five years later, he surrendered to Canadian authorities in Ottawa, where he was accused of assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats against his girlfriend at the time, who was pregnant.

He was extradited to Texas, where he was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2011, but had recently been released on parole.

Word around McMahon Stadium on Monday, where the Eskimos were on hand to face the Calgary Stampeders in the annual Labour Day Classic, was that when Ledbetter had originally been recruited back in the Ron Lancaster days, the troubled quarterback had problems getting across the border when a handgun was found in his boot.

The story of his 2010 surrender:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/ottawa/2 ... 25101.html

Ledbetter surrenders to Ottawa police
AEDAN HELMER, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 07:43 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 10:58 PM EDT

Former CFL quarterback Cody Ledbetter, 36, surrendered to police in Ottawa Wednesday.

Cody Ledbetter, the former CFL quarterback on the run from Texas authorities and hiding out in Ottawa for nearly a year, turned himself in to police at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

He hired one of the city's top criminal defence attorneys, Mark Ertel, who said Ledbetter "always had the intention of turning himself in without any incident or confrontation with police."

Ledbetter was escorted by a single police officer, hands cuffed in front of him, from Ertel's Elgin St. law office to police headquarters, where he remains in custody pending a court appearance Thursday.

In his home state of Texas, the former Hamilton Tiger-Cat is listed as one of Johnson County's most wanted fugitives. He fled the country in September and has been hiding out in Ottawa after breaking conditions of a 10-year probation sentence he was handed in 2005 for having an "improper relationship" with a 16-year-old female student while he was a football coach at Alvarado High School.

The Johnson County District Attorney's office is preparing an extradition order, and if he's sent back to Texas, he could face five to 99 years in prison for each offence, according to Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford.

Ertel called that proposed sentence "outrageous," and suggested he would fight any extradition order.

Ertel said the crimes that Ledbetter pleaded guilty to in Texas are not considered criminal offences in Canada, since the student in question was 16, over the age of consent in Canada, at the time of the relationship.

"If that offence is not an offence known to Canadian law and they're trying to incarcerate him, he's understandably not in a hurry to surrender (to U.S. authorities)," said Ertel.

"Having been involved in the criminal justice system in Texas - if you can call it a criminal justice system - he's understandably apprehensive about being returned there (to face further prosecution)."

Ertel called the Texas penal system "one of the most unenlightened systems in a free society," with a reputation for "overcrowding and violence" in prisons, and he believed Canadian courts would take that into consideration.

Texas authorities now have 60 days to draft an extradition order, and Johnson County assistant District Attorney Paul Hable said that process is well underway.

Gary Lewellyn, his former lawyer, said the only contact he's had with Ledbetter has been through Ertel's office.

"At this point, until he surrenders, he sure doesn't need a lawyer in Texas," said Lewellyn.

In the meantime, Ledbetter will make his first appearance in a Canadian courtroom today, facing charges of domestic assault from the Saturday incident which first drew the attention of Ottawa police.

"He's anxious to establish that he's not guilty of the partner assault allegations that were made to police," said Ertel.

"He has a 14-stitch cut on his hand, so it reasonable to believe there's more than one version of events from that incident as well."

Ertel suggested that Ledbetter would be "a good candidate" for bail.

"He has many acquaintances in Ottawa, he has support in the community and across the country," said Ertel.