Lawrence Phillips, a star running back and Heisman Trophy contender at the University of Nebraska during the 1990s, died in prison Wednesday in a suspected suicide.
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Phillips was convicted of choking his girlfriend and driving his auto into three teens in 2005.
On April 11, 2015, the body of Damion Soward (Phillips’ cellmate) was found unresponsive in their cell on account of strangulation according to the coroner’s report.
On September 1, 2015, Phillips was charged with first-degree murder and faced a potential death penalty for his slaying of the aforementioned Soward.
Phillips, 40, was found unconscious just after midnight during a security check by staff at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano outside Bakersfield, the state corrections department said in a statement.
In the end, Lawrence Phillips was never able to get past his violent temper.
Phillips pleaded no contest to third-degree misdemeanour assault and trespassing and was sentenced to one year of probation.
He was convicted that year in San Diego County of inflicting great bodily injury in a domestic violence incident, corporal injury, false imprisonment and vehicle theft, prison officials said.
Phillips was drafted sixth overall in 1996 by the Rams despite a series of off-field troubles during his college career that deterred other suitors.
Osborne said he corresponded with Phillips every few months. The Rams were high enough on Phillips to trade away Jerome Bettis, their star back.
He was released after two hard years with the Rams in which he spent 23 days in jail.
He also played for the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes and the Calgary Stampeders early last decade, winning the league’s championship with the Alouettes in 2002.
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“Things weren’t going in a good direction for him”. All I can say is I feel very bad.
