Colorado football coach Deion Sanders must be available to testify remotely in his son Shilo’s looming bankruptcy trial at 1:30 p.m. MT on Sept. 4, the day after his team opens the season at Georgia Tech, according to a ruling by a federal bankruptcy judge Aug. 27.
Judge Michael E. Romero made the decision to accommodate Deion Sanders’ schedule despite the fact that attorneys in the case said the trial could be over by Thursday, Aug. 31, except for any testimony needed from Deion Sanders. The trial starts Aug. 31 in Denver.
Sanders’ attorney, Harvey Steinberg, argued his client’s testimony is irrelevant to the case and tried to push any testimony from Deion Sanders to later in the day on Sept. 4 because the Buffaloes might be traveling home that
day after the game.
“It’s either that or we keep him here (in Colorado),” Judge Romero told him.
Sanders is to be available for rebuttal testimony in the case, according to what the judge said. The decision comes against the wishes of the plaintiff’s attorney in the case, who wanted that Deion Sanders be required to testify not just for rebuttal testimony but for his case in chief.
Sanders, 26, had fought to avoid be required to testify at the trial at all through his attorney, who argued it would place an undue burden on him as his team prepares to open the season at Georgia Tech Sept. 3. The Buffaloes leave for Atlanta Sept. 1, conflicting with a trial that might last five days through Sept. 4 as Shilo Sanderstries to get out of more than $11 million in debt.
What is Shilo Sanders bankruptcy trial about?
Shilo Sanders, a former Colorado safety, filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, hoping to discharge more than $11 million in debt, almost all of it owed to a former security guard at his school in Dallas, John Darjean.
The debt stems from an incident in 2015, when Darjean accused then-15-year-old Shilo Sanders of assaulting him and permanently injuring him at school. Darjean sued in 2016 and then won an $11.89 million civil default judgment against Shilo Sanders in 2022 after Sanders didn’t show up in court for the trial.
The judge in that case wrote in her final judgment that “Shilo Sanders did in fact cause physical harm and injuries to John Darjean by assaulting him” on Sept. 17, 2015.
The issue at trial now is whether Sanders can get out of that debt. Darjean wants to collect on all of it and argues Sanders shouldn’t be allowed to discharge that debt because it stems from a “willful and malicious injury” – a specific exception to debt discharges under bankruptcy law.
Sanders said it was not malicious but instead was self-defense. His father’s potential relevance to this case includes the fact that he told Darjean to confiscate Shilo’s phone that day, allegedly because he didn’t want him talking to his mother. The physical conflict then occurred when Darjean tried to confiscate his phone.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders must testify at son's trial if necessary, judge rules
