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Indictments handed down Grand jury indicts Lewis, two others on murder charges
Posted: Saturday February 12, 2000 01:35 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- A grand jury indicted NFL star Ray Lewis and two associates on murder charges Friday for the stabbing deaths of two men after a Super Bowl party. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. announced the indictments Friday, saying Lewis and the two other suspects were involved in a Jan. 31 fight that left the two victims dead. Lewis, a three-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, remains in the Atlanta Detention Center without bail, charged with the deaths of Richard Lollar, 24, and Jacinth Baker, 21. Despite Friday's indictments, a bond hearing remains scheduled for Monday. Howard would not say if Lewis stabbed one of the victims, but he can be charged with murder if he was involved in the fight -- even if someone else killed the men. "He participated by punching, encouraging and assisting in the commission of this crime," Howard said. Defense lawyer Ed Garland called the indictments scandalous and compared Lewis to Richard Jewell, who was accused and then cleared in the 1996 Olympic bombing. Garland added that he would prove Lewis' "absolute innocence at Monday's bond hearing." "You can almost hear the railroad whistle blowing as it goes down the track," Garland said. "The first passenger was Richard Jewell -- this time it's Ray Lewis. At the Olympics there was another innocent person trying to help but was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They have just done to Ray Lewis what they did to Richard Jewell and history is repeating itself." Five of the victims' family members attended the district attorney's news conference, and Vondie Boykin, Baker's aunt, read a brief statement. "God is a just God and he will see to it that justice is served," she said. The FBI has issued arrest warrants for the other two suspects, Reginald Oakley of Baltimore and Joseph Sweeting of Miami. Atlanta police say Lewis lied to officers to protect the two men. Each of the men faces six charges including felony murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A murder conviction in Georgia brings a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. Oakley, 31, and Sweeting, 34, are both being sought on federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The FBI said they should be considered armed and dangerous, and mug shots of the two men were released. Oakley agreed Friday to return to Atlanta and cooperate with police, WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported. Jesse Ingram, who said he is working with Oakley as a legal consultant, told the station that Oakley is nothing more than a witness. Oakley has been convicted of a number of crimes, including assaulting a police officer, shooting into an occupied dwelling, trafficking cocaine and embezzlement, Jackson said. Oakley was evicted from his apartment earlier this year, according to Mike Zimenski, a spokesman for the apartment building's management company. Police in Dade County, Fla., said Sweeting has been charged with robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, and carrying a concealed firearm. No one answered the phone at Sweeting's parents' home Friday, but The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted his mother as saying she talked to her son at least seven days ago. An unidentified man at the parents' home told the newspaper that Sweeting is not involved. "He's a churchgoing, nice person," the man said. "He's innocent. Whatever the allegations are, they are untrue." Atlanta officials said that in his lone interview before his arrest, Lewis gave them the names of two men he said were in the limousine that sped from the crime. One man, A.J. Johnson, was in Maryland during Super Bowl weekend and has been cleared by police. The second, Kwame King of Tallahassee, Fla., still must be questioned by police or defense investigators, his lawyer said Friday. "They know where I am, so I expect to hear from them in the near future," lawyer Bruce Morris said.
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