Supporters hope

With murder charges dropped, Lewis must learn a lesson, they say.

By ERNEST HOOPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 6, 2000

The day Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard dropped first-degree murder charges against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, two of his supporters in his native Polk County said they were ecstatic and elated.

They also said they're eager to see Lewis, who grew up in Bartow and played football at Lakeland Kathleen, gain something positive from this experience. "I hope he's learned a great lesson about hanging with bad people," said Clint Wright, a Polk County school administrator who was Lewis' principal at Kathleen. "He has to make good choices in the future. If he continues to be blessed with a great career and afforded great opportunities, hopefully he will do the right thing and count his blessings."

Wright said he knew from the start that Lewis was not a murderer. Lewis went on trial May 22 for the stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar a few hours after this year's Super Bowl in Atlanta. Howard Mathis, a minister who helped organize an April rally in Lakeland for Lewis, said he knew Lewis would not be found guilty but recognizes that Lewis has to rebuild his image.

"I'm looking forward to Ray coming back to Lakeland and the Kathleen area where he went to high school and doing more positive things in the community," Mathis said. "He really owes that to the community. He needs to accept that particular responsibility." Lewis friends Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley also were charged in the killings, which occurred outside a nightclub after an altercation between Lewis' entourage and a group of friends that included Baker and Lollar.

Witnesses who testified in the first weeks of the trial failed to connect Lewis to the killings, some of them changing their testimony from their original statements. Howard met with Lewis' attorneys over the weekend and offered to drop the murder and assault charges in exchange for a guilty plea to obstruction of justice and testimony against Sweeting and Oakley.

Lewis was scheduled to testify for the prosecution today.

"A trial is about getting to the truth," Howard said. "Sometimes it comes in strange ways."

Lewis, who had faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted of murder, received one year of probation. He cannot drink alcohol or use drugs for one year under the terms of his probation, which falls under the Georgia first-offender act.

NFL officials said Lewis would not be suspended but could be fined.

"We are going to review the case once his involvement has concluded," NFL spokesman Joe Browne said.

Lewis could be back with the Ravens in their minicamp next week.

"The players are obviously excited to have this behind them, keeping all this in the context that two people are dead," coach Brian Billick said. "What we're here to do now is move beyond this."

Art Modell, the Ravens' owner, said Lewis probably would have a news conference Friday at the Ravens' complex near Baltimore.

Modell said Lewis should not have gone to trial and he thinks the league will take no action against him.

"If every player in the NFL charged with a misdemeanor was suspended, we'd be playing with four-man rosters," he said.

Modell also said he plans to have "a long talk" with Lewis about being responsible "in deed and in conduct."

"And I hope this has a sobering effect on all of our players throughout the league and especially on Ray," Modell said.

-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Headlines

Americans Lose in 1st Round of Davis Cup

---