The Nebraska Cornhuskers’ general manager was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend.
WALSH, MARIUCCI PHILLIPS
FILE – During a news conference at training camp in Stockton, Calif., on July 26, 1999, newly-signed San Francisco 49ers running back Lawrence Phillips, center, smiles with 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci, left, and general manager Bill Walsh. Phillips has been charged with murder in connection with the death of his cellmate in a Central California prison. Phillips was once one of Nebraska’s top college football players. During his three-year NFL career, he played for the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers. Phillips is currently serving a sentence of more than 31 years in prison. He was found guilty of choking his girlfriend and then driving into three teenagers after a pickup football game.Brian Baer/AP Photo/File)
FILE – In this June 2, 2005, file photo, former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips is arraigned in Superior Court in the Foltz Criminal Courts Building in Los Angeles. Phillips has been charged with murder in the death of his cellmate at a Central California prison. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool File)
Former Nebraska football star Lawrence Phillips has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his cellmate at a California prison, the Associated Press reports.
Phillips, 40, is accused of killing Damion Soward, who was found unresponsive in his cell in the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California, in April. Phillips is serving a seven-year sentence for felony assault with a deadly weapon and also faces a 25-year sentence for felony domestic assault.
Phillips was an all-conference running back at Nebraska in the mid-1990s, helping the Cornhuskers to back-to-back national championships in 1994 and 1995. He had various disciplinary problems while in college, including an infamous 1995 incident in which he was arrested after being accused of dragging his girlfriend down the stairs by her hair.
Phillips was drafted No. 6 overall by the St. Louis Rams in 1996, but lasted just three seasons in the NFL due to inconsistent play and his inability to stay out of trouble. He last played professional football in 2003 with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders.
Phillips has been incarcerated since 2008, and was not eligible for parole until 2034 after being convicted of choking his girlfriend and later of driving his car into three teenagers after a pick-up football game. Under the new charge, he faces 25 years to life, plus 15 years, meaning he’d spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
Prison officials determined that Soward, who was in prison on a murder charge, was choked to death, and that Phillips was the only other person in the cell at the time. According to KBFX-TV, Phillips is due in court Sept. 15.
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