Lawrence Phillips

Lawrence Lamond Phillips (May 12, 1975 – January 13, 2016) was a professional American football and Canadian football running back. A two-time college football national champion with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Phillips played in the National Football League for the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers from 1996 through 1999, and for the Montreal Alouettes and Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2002 and 2003. Phillips' career was overshadowed by his inability to stay out of trouble off the field; he was arrested several times. In 2015, Phillips was charged with the murder of his former cellmate, Damion Soward, and arguably could have faced the death penalty. Phillips committed suicide on January 13, 2016, at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California, where he was serving a seven-year term for felony assault with a deadly weapon and was set to serve an additional twenty-five years once that sentence elapsed for domestic assault on his girlfriend.