NFL Star Lawrence Phillips Found Dead In His Prison Cell Of Apparent Suicide

Lawrence Phillips who was charged with murder in September for then allegedly murdering his cellmate on April 11, 2015 and could possibly face death penalty if convicted was found dead in his cell yesterday.

In the month he killed his cell mate Phillips wrote a letter to his mother in which he said; “I feel myself very close to snapping. My anger grows daily as I have become fed up with prison. I feel my anger is near bursting and that will result in my death or the death of someone else”

It was also in college when Phillips' run-ins with the law began, with the young man being charged with a series of offenses, most notably assaulting his girlfriend during his junior year. Phillips was suspended from the team and returned in time for Nebraska to win their second championship in as many years but he decided not to stay on the team for his senior year and entered the NFL draft where he was picked sixth overall by the St. Louis Rams. He was released from the Rams in his second season and then went to the Dolphins, who released him after just two games when he was charged with assaulting a woman at a nightclub. 

He went to play in the European league in 1998, and return to the NFL in 1999, joining the San Francisco 49ers. The team suspended him before he could even complete his first season due to his open contempt and disregard for the coaching staff. He never returned to the NFL after that, and in 2005 was arrested after he drove his car into three teenagers following an argument during a pickup football game.

At the point of his arrest he was also wanted for two assaults which he committed against a former girlfriend.  He was sent to prison in March 2006 and had been there ever since, first getting 10 years which had been decreased to seven for felony assault with a deadly weapon, and then later getting 25 years in 2009 for charges of assault with great bodily injury, false imprisonment, making a criminal threat, and auto theft for the incident with his former girlfriend.