“Lawrence Phillips is dead-and officials are investigating his death as a suicide after he was found in his prison cell”, TMZ reported on Wednesday. A coroner’s report concluded that strangulation was his cause of death. He was facing the possibility of the death penalty.
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Phillips’ initial jail sentence was a 31-year bid for domestic violence, false imprisonment, and vehicle theft.
Phillips had been behind bars in California since 2005.
When he was a star Nebraska running back, he was accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Kate McEwen, a Nebraska basketball player. Phillips was charged with first-degree murder in September.
Phillips had faced a term of 25 years to life if convicted of Soward’s killing. However, he noted several continuing problems with suicide prevention efforts at the prison where Phillips died.
Ex-NFL star Lawrence Phillips has been found dead in his prison cell on Wednesday, January 13.
This story has been corrected to show that Phillips was in segregation since 2015, not 2013, as corrections officials previously said in error.
“All of his correspondence with me, in spite of his circumstances, have been fairly upbeat”, Osborne said. “I’m surprised because I didn’t see that coming”.
The former running back had a huge season as a sophomore for Nebraska, bulldozing his way to 1,772 yards and 16 touchdowns in the 1994 season. Phillips’ addition to the Rams paved the way for the team to trade future Hall-of-Famer Jerome Bettis to the Pittsburgh Steelers on draft day. In 1997, he made nine starts in the first 10 games and had 633 yards and eight TDs when the team’s patience ran out. She said the CDCR had no records of Phillips ever being in one of those beds.
Rams: The St. Louis Rams picked Phillips with the sixth pick despite his flawed character that was predicted to tarnish his draft stock, choosing to side with rare talent over a few controversial incidents.
He went to play in the European league in 1998, and return to the NFL in 1999, joining the San Francisco 49ers.
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Phillips seemingly had the talent to become an National Football League great. Tuiasosopo was USC’s tight-ends coach the past two years.
