Ex-Cowboy Spillman gets 5-year prison term for sexual assault

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Former Cowboys special teams player C.J. Spillman has been sentenced to five years in prison for a conviction on a sexual assault charge from a 2014 incident at a Dallas-area hotel.

A Tarrant County jury deliberated a little over an hour before sentencing Spillman in Fort Worth on Friday. Jurors had deliberated less than two hours Thursday before returning a conviction.

Spillman could have gotten from two to 20 years in prison or probation.

Grapevine police say a woman reported that Spillman raped her on Sept. 20, 2014, at the Gaylord Texan Resort, where he was staying. Testifying in his own defense Thursday, Spillman acknowledged having sex with the woman but insisted it was consensual.

Spillman became a free agent in March 2015.