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Lewis trial: Day 7 Prosecutors introduce Lewis' police statement
Posted: Friday June 02, 2000 01:01 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Police officers testified Thursday that football star Ray Lewis gave them a statement full of lies and contradictions when they interviewed him hours after a brawl that left two men dead. The statement shows Lewis denied knowing many of the people who rode in his rented limousine and gave inconsistent accounts of whether anyone in his party was cut during the fight. Lewis and two friends, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, are on trial for murder in the deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar, who were stabbed in the Jan. 31 fight after a Super Bowl party. Before the trial began, Lewis' lawyers tried to keep his statement out of evidence. But Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner ordered that it be admitted because she said it was "freely and voluntarily given."
Lewis, who was at a friend's house in Norcross on the morning after the killing, refused to go to the police station but agreed to give a written statement to Atlanta police Lt. M.C. Smith. "On my way to my limousine ... a fight broke out way up past my limousine," Lewis' statement said. "We saw it, I grabbed my people, we hopped in my truck, we left. While we're driving off, we heard gun shots. We left the scene, and that is basically it." Lewis at first denied knowing the names of the people in the limousine, calling them "just club people." But later in the statement he identified a woman named Jaye and someone named A.J. Johnson, an alias used by Oakley. He also denied knowing about someone's head being cut, but later told Smith that A.J. Johnson "had his head busted." Earlier testimony showed that Oakley's head was cut with a champagne bottle during the brawl. Lewis refused to sign the statement and told officers he had to leave to catch a flight to Hawaii, where he was playing in the Pro Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker promised to answer more questions when he returned. "Do you understand that two people died last night and you can help identify the suspects?" Smith asked Lewis.
"Yes," he answered. Defense attorneys had argued that officers coerced the statement by threatening to destroy Lewis' pro football career if he didn't cooperate. They also noted that Smith used a racial stereotype during the investigation. "What I said was, 'All African-Americans have nicknames,'" said Smith. "I regret that I gave anything that can be misconstrued or misinterpreted, and I apologize for that." Smith said he made the statement while talking to Tony Williams, a family friend of Lewis. He said he was trying to find out the real names of men called Shorty, Derby, Fedora and A.J. Prosecutors have said the remark is irrelevant.
The jury is composed of 10 blacks and two whites. All the defendants and the victims are black. Thursday marked the seventh day of testimony. The prosecution, which had hoped to finish Friday, now says it will take until at least Monday to wrap up its case. The state still has to call forensics experts, medical examiners and a few more officers. Prosecutors also may call some of the other people in Lewis' limousine, including two men only known as Gino and Claudus. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Thursday he has not heard whether limousine driver Duane Fassett will return to testify. Howard wants him back to probe inconsistencies between the statement Fassett gave police and what he said on the stand last week. The judge issued another subpoena for Fassett earlier this week. When the prosecution finishes, the defense will ask the judge to make a directed verdict of not guilty for Lewis, which would dismiss his case without having to go to a jury, said Ed Garland, the football star's attorney.
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