Justin Lewis Bannan (born April 18, 1979) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

. He was selected by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

in the fifth round of the

2002 NFL draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted ...

. Bannan also played for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

, and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

, and played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. In 2019, Bannan wounded an acupuncturist when he shot her in the shoulder as she entered her treatment room, where he had been hiding. Bannan was sentenced to sixteen years imprisonment for

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...

and felony assault in 2022.

Early life

Bannan graduated from

Bella Vista High School Bella Vista High School is a public high school in Fair Oaks, California. It is a member of the San Juan Unified School District and serves eastern Fair Oaks and southern Orangevale. In 2003, the California Department of Education's School Reco ...

Fair Oaks, California Fair Oaks is a unincorporated community in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Fair Oaks as a census-designated place ...

, in 1997 and was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. Bannan received a scholarship to play football at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

, where he was a starting player from 1997 to 2001.

Professional career

Buffalo Bills

Bannan was selected by the

in the fifth round (139th overall) of the

and played for them through the 2005 season. Justin Bannan

Baltimore Ravens

Bannan joined the

before the 2006 season and played for them until 2009. In the 2008 season, he set a personal-best with 30 solo tackles (56 total), one sack and one interception.

Denver Broncos (first stint)

On March 5, 2010, Bannan signed a five-year contract with the

. On March 3, 2011, the Broncos released Bannan.

St. Louis Rams

Bannan signed with the

on July 30, 2011. He was released following the 2011 season on March 12, 2012.

Denver Broncos (second stint)

On April 11, 2012, Bannan signed a one-year deal with the Broncos.

Detroit Lions

On August 15, 2013, Bannan signed a contract with the

. Bannan was released from the Lions on September 25, 2013.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Post-football career

Bannan partnered with his former Broncos teammate Chris Kuper to co-found Black Lab Sports, a sports technology

incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a dev ...

and

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm. The company opened an office in Boulder, Colorado in 2015. The company made its first investment into iSplack, a company that manufactures custom

eye black Eye black is a grease or strip applied under the human eye, eyes to reduce light pollution#Glare, glare, although studies have not conclusively proven its effectiveness. It is often used by American football, baseball, softball, and lacrosse pla ...

Criminal conviction

On October 16, 2019, Bannan shot and wounded an acupuncturist as she was entering her locked treatment room. Bannan had been crouching in the corner of the office, which was located in a building shared by Bannan's Black Lab Sports company. When he was arrested, he told police that he was hiding from the Russian mafia and had disposed of his cell phone because he believed someone was tracking him. He also told police he was suffering from

hydrocephalus Hydrocephalus is a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up within the brain, which can cause pressure to increase in the skull. Symptoms may vary according to age. Headaches and double vision are common. Elderly adults with n ...

. He had a backpack with him that contained two .45-caliber handguns, as well as a rolled bill containing

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

residue. Bannan pleaded

not guilty by reason of insanity Not or NOT may also refer to: Language * Not, the general declarative form of "no", indicating a negation of a related statement that usually precedes * ... Not!, a grammatical construction used as a contradiction, popularized in the early 1990 ...

, and his lawyer argued that multiple head injuries sustained over his football career could have contributed to

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets wor ...

(CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that has been linked to repetitive head trauma. Prosecutors argued that his paranoia was linked to his drug abuse. Bannan was found guilty on one count of first-degree

, one count of second-degree attempted murder, and two counts of felony assault. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison, which was the

mandatory minimum sentence Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into co ...

for his conviction. The victim had requested he receive the minimum sentence, but maximum probation and mandatory drug treatment. The victim filed a civil lawsuit against Bannan and Black Lab sports in 2020.

Personal life

Bannan grew up in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where his father ran a construction company. He has a brother who is six years older than him. Bannan became interested in finance when he joined the NFL, and described investing as a hobby. Bannon married his wife Sommer in 2011. The couple has one child together. They divorced in 2014. In 2015, Bannan had a child from a different relationship.

References

External links

Baltimore Ravens bioDenver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannan, Justin 1979 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American criminals 21st-century American sportsmen American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles American male criminals American people convicted of assault American people convicted of attempted murder American sports businesspeople American sportspeople convicted of crimes Baltimore Ravens players Buffalo Bills players Businesspeople from California Colorado Buffaloes football players Criminals from California Denver Broncos players Detroit Lions players Living people Players of American football from Sacramento, California Prisoners and detainees of Colorado St. Louis Rams players University of Colorado Boulder alumni