As we celebrate Ray Lewis, don't forget murder victims

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Mike Bianchi SPORTS COMMENTARY

7:26 p.m. EST, January 5, 2013

On the day Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis announced he would be retiring after this season, my thoughts drifted back to a bitterly cold winter day in a cemetery in Akron, Ohio.

That's where Richard Lollar was buried and where his bespectacled grandmother, Joyce Lollar, showed me his grave more than a decade ago.

As I wrote then, she crunched through the snow with leafless trees etched against a gray Midwestern skyline. A frozen drizzle fell from above. With her shoe, she scraped the snow and the ice and the dirt from her grandson's grave site and said a short prayer that ended with: "We miss you, Richard. We love you."
And then she broke down and cried. And then the sadness turned to madness as she spoke bitterly about how she felt Ray Lewis and his "gang of hoodlums" literally got away with murder.

"They stabbed my Richard five times in vital places — the heart, the liver," she said angrily. "They don't even kill animals like that. This was no bar fight; this was a slaughter. This was a thrill-killing."

Amid this week-long celebration and commemoration of Ray Lewis' brilliant, Hall of Fame career, let us not forget that he was once charged with killing Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker — two men whose murders were never solved. Two men whose families are, no doubt, still haunted by the fact that brutal, bloody killers are still out there somewhere running free.

Ray Lewis may or may not be the greatest linebacker of all-time, but he has certainly pulled off the greatest comeback story in the history of sports. He is considered a role model, a team leader, a man known for his hard work on the field and his charitable work off of it.

To fathom the scope of his redemptive powers, all you have to do is click on the two separate Wikipedia pages of Lewis and Michael Vick. In the opening paragraph of Vick's, it mentions his notorious episode of dog-killing. In Lewis' opening paragraph, it chronicles his Pro Bowls, his Super Bowl MVP, even the torn triceps that kept him sidelined for much of this season. But there is not a single mention of the fact that he once was charged with murdering two men.

"Everybody's gone on with their lives; everybody but us," Joyce Lollar told me in 2001, a year after her grandson was murdered and a few days before Lewis was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV. "Ray Lewis is living his dream, but what about my grandson's dreams? Our family's been destroyed, and now we have to watch Ray Lewis prancing around in the Super Bowl. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Joyce raised Richard Lollar, who was left dead in the street in the early morning hours on Jan. 31, 2000, — a few hours after the Rams defeated the Titans in one of the most thrilling Super Bowls in history. And then came one of the most chilling post-Super Bowl scenes in history. A brawl outside the Cobalt Lounge, an upscale Atlanta nightclub, turned into gory spectacle of steely knives, mangled flesh and a river of blood. The 24-year-old Lollar and his 21-year-old boyhood buddy from Akron, Jacinth Baker, were both stabbed multiple times in the heart, the knives savagely twisted into their vital organs. The killers knew exactly what they were doing.

Lewis, his two good friends — Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting — and nine others sped away from the crime scene in a 40-foot Lincoln limousine. Lewis, Oakley and Sweeting were charged with the killings and cleared in a controversial court decision that still leaves many questions unanswered.

Why, when Lewis made an appearance at a sporting goods store the day before the Super Bowl, did his friends buy knives at the store?

Why did witnesses say the limo pulled over and someone dumped bloody clothes into a trash bin?

Why was the white suit Ray Lewis wore that night never found?

Why did the limo driver change his story mid-trial after originally testifying that Lewis told everyone to "just keep your mouth shut and don't say nothing"? Originally, the driver told police he saw Lewis actively taking part in the bloody brawl and heard Oakley and Sweeting admit to stabbing someone. But he backed off those statements when he got on the witness stand.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...1707256.column

[Agamemnon]

The NFL may want us to forget this sickening story, but many of us refuse to. The dude is either a murderer or an accomplice to murder. Period.

[broncosteven]

I never understood why this continues to get swept under the rug. It is like letting O.J. Kill his wife before he broke off 2k then laud him with endless accolades.

Did the family's ever file a civil suit?

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by broncosteven

I never understood why this continues to get swept under the rug. It is like letting O.J. Kill his wife before he broke off 2k then laud him with endless accolades.

Did the family's ever file a civil suit?

Ray Lewis paid them both off according to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Lewis

[broncocalijohn]

Seems many haven't let him off easy according to many posts at the Mane.

[troyjbath]

Did you guys watch A Football Life: Ray Lewis on Wednesday? I noticed that whenever he would talk about the murder charges he would look down at the floor and away from the crowd in the room. It was a bit awkward and out of character for him.

[fdf]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

The NFL may want us to forget this sickening story, but many of us refuse to. The dude is either a murderer or an accomplice to murder. Period.

I don't celebrate Ray Lewis. So I'm safe.

[GoBroncos DownUnder]

[MrPeepers]

ha!

"Lewis is a Christian, and his commitment to his faith was featured in a Sports Illustrated cover story in 2006. He has six children by four women." - Wikipedia / Personal Life

murder charges against Lewis were dismissed in exchange for his testimony against Oakley and Sweeting, and his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice

Oakley and Sweeting were acquitted of the charges in June 2000.^[39] No other suspects have ever been arrested for the crime.

[broncosteven]

Originally Posted by troyjbath

Did you guys watch A Football Life: Ray Lewis on Wednesday? I noticed that whenever he would talk about the murder charges he would look down at the floor and away from the crowd in the room. It was a bit awkward and out of character for him.

Yep...I don't remember him being as deeply religious until after the stabbings.

In a way I am glad he figured out what really was important and made some changes in his life, too bad 2 people had to die for that to happen.

[edog24]

Ridiculous, thanks for posting that, it's good to remember. He is/was a scumbag, not uncommon for a lot of Ravens.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

IIRC, the coroner said the victims were stabbed with surgical precision and it was scary how "efficient" the murderers were.

[Lestat]

there's what you know and what you can prove. he wasn't proven guilty of the crime so i have no reason to call him a scumbag or murderer.
he may or may not have gotten away with a heinous crime, but he wasn't convicted of it so anything judgmental on my part is wasted emotion.

hating on him is not going to bring those people back, it won't give that family justice.
if he did do it, a far greater power than i will pass judgement on him in the end.

[Cleo McDowell]

Originally Posted by Lestat

there's what you know and what you can prove. he wasn't proven guilty of the crime so i have no reason to call him a scumbag or murderer.
he may or may not have gotten away with a heinous crime, but he wasn't convicted of it so anything judgmental on my part is wasted emotion.

hating on him is not going to bring those people back, it won't give that family justice.
if he did do it, a far greater power than i will pass judgement on him in the end.

Well said.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Lestat

there's what you know and what you can prove. he wasn't proven guilty of the crime so i have no reason to call him a scumbag or murderer.
he may or may not have gotten away with a heinous crime, but he wasn't convicted of it so anything judgmental on my part is wasted emotion.

hating on him is not going to bring those people back, it won't give that family justice.
if he did do it, a far greater power than i will pass judgement on him in the end.

Hating on him is one thing. This is more about putting things in perspective while the NFL blows sunshine up his ass before he retires.

[Lestat]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Hating on him is one thing. This is more about putting things in perspective while the NFL blows sunshine up his ass before he retires.

yeah but this isn't Donte Stallworth or Ray Carruth.
this is almost 13 years old and no conviction. just conjecture and condemning.

[Cito Pelon]

Dude was convicted of Obstruction of Justice for trying to cover up the murder. I'm sick of seeing the adoration for the guy.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Lestat

yeah but this isn't Donte Stallworth or Ray Carruth.
this is almost 13 years old and no conviction. just conjecture and condemning.

He agreed to testify against the other candidates to get the charges against him dropped, and settled out of court with both victims' families. There's more to it than conjecture. In my opinion he didn't actually stab anyone, but I do think he tried to cover up for his thug friends until it looked like his whole career was going to be destroyed in the process.

[Dr. Broncenstein]

Originally Posted by Lestat

yeah but this isn't Donte Stallworth or Ray Carruth.
this is almost 13 years old and no conviction. just conjecture and condemning.

Someone in the small group of people including Ray Lewis and his posse stabbed two people to death. Ray Lewis at the very least obstructed the investigation into this murder. Guess how I know? Hint: it involves a guilty plea. So Lewis is either a murderer, or the kind of guy who hangs out with and aids/abets a murderer. Many people who fit that description reside in prison, because that's where they belong.

[El Guapo]

Here's a nice little image to use this week.

[Lestat]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

He agreed to testify against the other candidates to get the charges against him dropped, and settled out of court with both victims' families. There's more to it than conjecture. In my opinion he didn't actually stab anyone, but I do think he tried to cover up for his thug friends until it looked like his whole career was going to be destroyed in the process.

sounds about right. but even with that his testimony against them it still didn't lead to implicating them in the crime.
him reaching a financial settlement with the families means they can't come after him later on or they look like they're just after more money.
eliminates the potential for future worry.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by Dr. Broncenstein

Someone in the small group of people including Ray Lewis and his posse stabbed two people to death. Ray Lewis at the very least obstructed the investigation into this murder. Guess how I know? Hint: it involves a guilty plea. So Lewis is either a murderer, or the kind of guy who hangs out with and aids/abets a murderer. Many people who fit that description reside in prison, because that's where they belong.

Key words.

Those are two words in the English language that can't be got around, no how no way. Lewis pled guilty to obstruction of justice in a murder investigation.

[DENVERDUI55]

Kershaw knives want to sponsor Lewis but Buck knife company is offering a lot of money.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by Lestat

there's what you know and what you can prove. he wasn't proven guilty of the crime so i have no reason to call him a scumbag or murderer.
he may or may not have gotten away with a heinous crime, but he wasn't convicted of it so anything judgmental on my part is wasted emotion.

hating on him is not going to bring those people back, it won't give that family justice.
if he did do it, a far greater power than i will pass judgement on him in the end.

gee neither was OJ . he was proven innocent of murder the glove did not fit you got to acquit too bad those was his shoes i dont care he is a murderer or accomplice .
he is as guilty as oj justice wasnt served lack of evidence

[Swedish Extrovert]

Originally Posted by El Guapo

Here's a nice little image to use this week.

There's got to be a more clever meme than this... this is just doing it wrong.