Three years after Ray Lewis was drafted into the NFL, the middle linebacker made headlines when he was indicted on murder charges in January 2000. According to Sports Illustrated, the former NFL star and his friends –– Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting –– were accused of “punching, beating and stabbing” Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar near the Atlanta nightclub Cobalt Lounge. “The devil is busy, always after God’s children. He is always trying to get you one way or another,” Lewis told The Baltimore Sun shortly after the charges were announced. Although Lewis and his legal team were adamant that the football player wasn’t directly involved in the altercation, prosecutors claimed they found blood in his limo and hotel room.
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However, halfway through the trial, the murder charges against the Super Bowl MVP were dropped after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors. The New York Times reported that under the agreement, Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice as a result of his lying in his initial police statement. He was also required to testify against Oakley and Sweeting and fined $250,000. While the former football star avoided prison and a suspension from the NFL, the ordeal has continued to follow him. “You know, I hear people bring up Atlanta like, oh, Atlanta’s supposed to scare me. Atlanta doesn’t scare me. Atlanta wakes me up,” he told NPR in 2015.
