Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

[ramsanddodgers]

Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years
Posted by Mike Florio on December 18, 2009 6:13 PM ET
Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips, one of the biggest top-ten first-round busts of all time, has been sentenced to more than 31 years in prison for attacking his girlfriend, and for driving his car into three teens, according to the Associated Press.

The incidents occurred in 2005.

The Rams made Phillips the sixth overall pick in the 1996 draft, eight spots before Eddie George was selected by the Titans.

The quick collapse of Phillips' career makes the franchise's ability to win a Super Bowl only three years later even more amazing. :|

[Ramblin` Ram]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

wow..i know he`s an headcase..but 31 years still seems a bit extreme to me..i think he should have got 10-12 years..that way it would have punished him and also had a chance of reforming him into a better human being...31 years in the Pen is not gonna do that.

[PeoriaRam]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

wow..i know he`s an headcase..but 31 years still seems a bit extreme to me..i think he should have got 10-12 years..that way it would have punished him and also had a chance of reforming him into a better human being...31 years in the Pen is not gonna do that.

Call it a lifetime achievement award for having a list of priors longer than "War and Peace."

[dave626]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

what a waste, he'll have alot of time to think about woulda coulda shoulda.

[01d 0rd3r]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

a chance of reforming him into a better human being...31 years in the Pen is not gonna do that.

No but it does keep him from causing anymore domestic disturbances for 31 years.

[TheRammer]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

holy hell! 31 years for a domestic? wow he might as well of killed em all then...

[jkramsfan]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

holy hell! 31 years for a domestic? wow he might as well of killed em all then...

he tried to run down some kids with his car, I would have given him the freakin electric chair,society is better off without him, plus I think that fact that he had a long list of prior bad acts lead to the stiff sentence,he is just one of those guys who didn't get it.

[LARAM]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

Holy Cow....Are you serious. He was found guilty of driving his car into three teens. That is a called 3 counts of Attempted murder. He is a thug and he was a menace to Society. Good riddens.

Don't feel so bad though, if he behaves himself he'll be out in about 12 years.....

[Ram Dragoon]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

Justice Served! Pity they can't put him and O.J. in the same cell. Pity with all the promise both had and a chance to do good in this world, they choose this end.

By the time each get out they will be aged relics having wasted a large part of their lives as they have their promise

[Trevor]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

Don't remember this guy, I was 6 years old... Was he really a bust?

[Azul e Oro]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

Maybe he'll get to share a cell with Darryl Henley & they can trade shoulda/woulda/coulda stories.

And yes, Trevor, he was an epic bust. I think he made a list of top ten busts of all time.If you're too young to remember LP, I'm sure you don't know Henley's story which reads like the plot of a bad movie; a starting DB for the Rams who got busted for trying to smuggle cocaine. I think he got over 40 years.

[ScottD413]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

You guys are killing me. Driving his car into 3 teens + attacking his GF = 4 counts of attempted murder. Not to mention all of his prior convictions.

If you think 31 years is too harsh, I'm scared for you, and for humanity in general.

[cla320]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

How time flies ! He is already 31 years

[TheRammer]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

dam never knew about the attemted murder part... very sad how people like him clarett and henley and others just f up their life...

[RamFan_Til_I_Die]

Re: Lawrence Phillips gets 31 years

For those that might not understand how messed up Phillips is, and just how much talent he wasted, here's the timeline of he criminal and football career. Hope you have some time...it's LONG.


June 1995: Phillips is charged with trespassing and assault for an attack on his live-in girlfriend. He reportedly threatened to shoot her "in the kneecaps and elbows" so the University of Nebraska provided her with 24-hour protection.

August 1995: He kicks off the season by scaling the north wall of his girlfriend's apartment building, jumps onto the balcony, and runs right through her screen door. He allegedly drags her down 3 flights of stairs by the hair. Phillips pleads no contest and gets one year's probation. Tom Osborne eventually wimps out and reinstates him to play football.

April 1996: The Rams take Phillips with the 6th overall pick in the NFL draft. In their defense, his contract is a unique pay-as-you-play deal: $5.8 million but no money up front. It's sort of a precursor to Pacman Jones' deal with the Titans (also a 6th pick incidentally) with all the behavior clauses. Over a 19-month stint Phillips gets arrested 3 more times and spends 23 days in jail.

December 1996: Phillips pleads no contest to the DUI from June, gets probation for three years, and 80 hours of community service. He'll eventually default on all three court orders.

February 1997: Phillips is arrested at a $25-a-night hotel in Omaha on charges of disorderly conduct. A "party" got out of hand at 2:15 am and Phillips reportedly refuses to come out of the bathroom when police arrived.

February 1997: Lisa Bateman and Arthur Stallworth file lawsuits accusing Phillips of assaulting them. They were at this hotel party: Bateman accuses Phillips of groping her, and Stallworth, her boyfriend, accuses Phillips of beating him.

March 1997: Phillips is sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating probation.

October 1997: Phillips is charged with battery after a woman accuses him of beating her. She reportedly refused to dance with him so he smacked her and yelled, "I'll break your jawbone and pull the weave out of your head." The victim allegedly sustained a chipped tooth, cut lip and also temporarily blacked out. Luckily she wasn't hurt any worse. Phillips pleads no contest.

December 1997: After refusing to show for a team meeting and practice in a dispute with coach Dick Vermeil over playing time the Rams cut Phillips, and a teary-eyed Vermeil at the time called Phillips potentially the best running back he had ever coached. The Miami Dolphins sign him 2 days later.

March 1998: A young woman named Rebecca Harvey files a civil suit against him claiming that she was attacked at that same hotel party a year earlier in Nebraska. The suit alleges that Phillips has shown "a continuous and outrageous pattern of gender-motivated violence." Ya think? Phillips pleads no contest yet again, literally asking to be jailed.

July 1998: Miami releases Phillips just 4 days into training camp amidst allegations from a young woman that Phillips hit her at a nightclub on June 27.

June 1999: Phillips was out of football in 1998. But he lands with the Barcelona Dragons in the spring of '99 and sets NFL Europe records. Over 1,000 yards in 8 games. No valid reports of any crimes or malfeasance across the pond.

July 1999: His agent somehow gets him a tryout with the San Francisco *****. They sign him.

Sept. 27, 1999: In the Monday Night game in Tempe, Ariz Phillips missed a blocking assignment — some say on purpose — allowing Arizona free safety Aeneas Williams a free lane to blindside Steve Young. The ***** quarterback sustained a career-ending concussion on the play.

November 1999: Phillips posts 32 yards & 0 TDs in the previous 3 games and is released by the *****.

March 2000: Phillips is arrested in Beverly Hills. Authorities respond to a domestic violence call at a party. His injured girlfriend is treated at the scene. The good news is that she escapes with just a few bruises. The bad news is Phillips requires 4 officers to get him in the back seat of the patrol car.

January 2001: Phillips signs with the XFL's Las Vegas Outlaws for a base salary of $4,500.

March 2001: Phillips signs with the Arena League's Florida Bobcats. He disappeared and never got one paycheck. He then moved on to the Canadian Football League, helping the Montreal Alouettes (1,022 yards and 13 TDs) win the 2002 Grey Cup.

June 2002: Phillips gets arrested in Montreal after sexually assaulting his girlfriend. He also failed to appear at the hearing.

July 2003: Phillips, released by the Alouettes, picks up with the Calgary Stampeders. He's quickly arrested for carrying a loaded handgun - "wrapped in tin foil like a hoagie" - in his pickup truck. He's released by Calgary for calling head coach Jim Barker something that can't be repeated here.

August 2004: Phillips stumbles into a Las Vegas pawnshop - "Steve's Buy & Sell" - at 9:00 in the morning and sells one of his Big Eight championship rings for $20. "He said he was stuck in Las Vegas," said Steve Gibson, the owner. "He said, `I need to get out of town.'" Gibson then went home and eBay-ed the ring for $1,700.

July 2005: Phillips is sought by police for allegedly attacking his girlfriend and choking her into unconsciousness.

August 21, 2005: Phillips, now 30 years old, is arrested in Los Angeles after allegedly hitting a group of teenagers with his car. He reportedly got in an argument during a pickup football game over his missing gym bag. God knows what was in that thing - an iPod, some pills, maybe a human hand? - but whatever the case Phillips totally panics. He screams at the kids and accuses them of stealing it. "The kids said they didn't know where his belongings were," a witness said. Phillips is not satisfied so he hops in his black Honda (which turned out to be stolen) and drives onto the field to mow them down. Three boys are treated at a hospital but all were OK thankfully. Phillips is arrested and held on the domestic-violence felony warrant from the above July incident.

March 2006: The Associated Press reports Phillips will stand trial in October 2006 on felony assault charges stemming from the car incident. The assigned judge dismissed two counts of child abuse and one count of leaving the scene of an accident, but continued the trial on the more serious charges.

October 10, 2006: Phillips was found guilty of seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon for hitting the boys with the car and was sentenced to 10 years in a California state prison.

August 2009: While serving that sentence, Philips was convicted in for the assault on his then-girlfriend on seven counts, including assault with great bodily injury; false imprisonment; making a criminal threat; and auto theft.

December 18, 2009: Phillips was sentenced to more than 31 years in prison for attacking his girlfriend and driving his car into three teens.