Top 10 NFL Prison Sentences
Top 10 NFL Prison
Sentences
By Matt J - July 10, 2009
Most people now a days make NFL players out to be heroes and some of them are. What I would like to take a look at now is some of the most crazy nfl players ever, who don't quit fit the hero persona. Some of these guys did this stuff while still playing in the league while others waited until after they were done in the NFL.
To start us off here's some honorable mentions: Tank Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Leonard Little, Donte Stallworth, Michael Vick
Number 10: Nate Newton
On November 4, 2001 police in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, found 213 pounds of marijuana in Newton's white van. Five weeks later, he was caught with 175 pounds of marijuana on Interstate 45. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
So far I have two pictures up, so far two Dallas Cowboys. Not that I don't like the Cowboys but are we seeing a trend starting or what?
Number 9: Lawrence Phillips
On August 21, 2005, Phillips was arrested for assault after allegedly driving a car into three teenagers, following a dispute with the teens during a pick-up football game in Los Angeles, California. At the time of the arrest, Phillips was wanted by the San Diego, California, police in connection with two alleged domestic abuse incidents involving a former girlfriend, who claimed that Phillips choked her to the point of unconsciousness during one of the incidents. In addition, the Los Angeles Police Department was seeking Phillips in connection with yet another, separate domestic abuse allegation that had occurred previously in Los Angeles.
In March, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Phillips had been ordered to
stand trial on felony assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from the
August 21, 2005, 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.
On October 10, 2006, Phillips was found guilty of seven counts of assault with
a deadly weapon. On October 3, 2008, Phillips was sentenced to 10 years in a
California state prison.
Number 8: Dwayne Goodrich
On January 14, 2003, Goodrich was involved in a hit and run accident that killed two people. On January 15, he was arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter in relation to the accident. Police believed that Goodrich, driving at an estimated speed of 110 mph, struck and killed two motorists who were trying to rescue a man from a burning car on a North Dallas freeway. Though witnesses claimed Goodrich was going 100 mph, the state's accident reconstruction expert at trial estimated that Goodrich's car struck the victims and driver door of the wreckage at a considerably lower speed of 54 mph.
On September 8, 2003 he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and fined $20,000 for the accident. He was convicted on two counts of criminally negligent homicide.
On January 9, 2006, prosecutors and relatives of the deceased victims successfully sought to add five years to his original 7 ½-year prison sentence. In court proceedings on January 9, 2006 in Dallas, the sole surviving victim of the January 2003 accident, Shuki Josef requested permission to approach Goodrich to shake his hand. The gesture resulted in an emotion-filled embrace between the two men as Josef publicly acknowledged forgiveness and stated he harbored no ill will for Goodrich by saying, "I forgive you...I'm sorry for you."
Goodrich was not proven to be intoxicated during trial. Goodrich lost his brother Walter to a motorcycle accident in 2004.
Number 7: Cecil Collins
On December 16, 1999, Collins committed burglary in Palm Trace Landings, an apartment complex in Davie, Florida. He admits he broke into the home of a married woman that he knew from the gym, but said he only wanted to watch her sleep. After conviction on the charge, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His current release date is in 2014. Upon release, he may face incarceration in Louisiana due to his prior conduct there.
Number 6: Art Schlichter
Over the years, Schlichter has, by his own count, committed over 20 felonies. He gambled away much of his NFL, AFL and radio salaries. Whenever he ran low on money to support his gambling, he stole and conned it from friends and strangers, and frequently passed bad checks. In an interview for ESPN's Outside the Lines, he estimated that he'd stolen $1.5 million over the years, if not more.
The habit eventually cost him his marriage; his wife left him in 1994 after FBI agents raided their home in Las Vegas in search of money he'd stolen. According to her, Schlichter gambled it away.
Between 1995 and 2006, he served the equivalent of 10 years in 44 various prisons and jails across the Midwest. His various legal problems, including fraud cases and forgery, among others, were often well-publicized. For example, he was so consumed by his habit that he had his public defender smuggle a cell phone into prison so he could place bets.
He later said that he hit rock bottom in 2004, after he was caught gambling in prison. He was placed in solitary confinement for four months.
He was most recently released from prison on June 16, 2006. He is currently residing with his mother in Washington Court House, Ohio. By one estimate, he owes half a million dollars in restitution.
Schlichter has founded a non-profit organization, Gambling Prevention Awareness, to educate others about the perils of compulsive gambling, including college and NFL players. He told ESPN that he started gambling because the pressure of being Ohio State's starting quarterback was too much on him, and he wanted to be just a regular guy. However, at least one of Schlichter's prosecutors felt that his foundation is just another way for him to obtain money to fuel his addiction.
Number 5: O.J. Simpson
Legal history: Criminal trial for murder, Civil trial for wrongful death, Alleged confession Mike Gilbert, a memorabilia dealer and former agent and friend of Simpson, wrote a book entitled How I Helped O.J. Get Away with Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse. He states that Simpson had smoked marijuana, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he allegedly confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of June 12, 1994. According to Gilbert, Simpson said, "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand...she'd still be alive." Gilbert claimed Simpson had confessed. However, Simpson's current lawyer, Yale Galanter, said none of Gilbert's claims are true and that Gilbert is "a delusional drug addict who needs money. He has fallen on very hard times. He is in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service."
In September 2007, a group of men led by Simpson entered a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino and took sports memorabilia at gunpoint, which resulted in Simpson being questioned by police. Simpson admitted to taking the items, which he said had been stolen from him, but denied breaking into the hotel room; he also denied that he or anyone else carried a gun. He was released after questioning.
Two days later, however, Simpson was arrested and initially held without bail. Along with three other men, Simpson was charged with multiple felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $125,000, with stipulations that Simpson have no contact with the co-defendants and that he surrender his passport. Simpson did not enter a plea.
By the end of October 2007, all three of Simpson's co-defendants had plea bargained with the prosecution in the Clark County, Nevada court case. Walter Alexander and Charles H. Cashmore accepted plea agreements in exchange for reduced charges and his testimony against Simpson and three other co-defendants, including testifying that guns were used in the robbery. Co-defendant Michael McClinton told a Las Vegas judge that he too would plead guilty to reduced charges and testify against Simpson that guns were used in the robbery. After the hearings, the judge ordered that Simpson be tried for the heist.
Simpson's preliminary hearing, to decide whether he would be tried for the charges, occurred on November 8, 2007. He was held over for trial on all 12 counts. Simpson pleaded not guilty on November 29. Court officers and attorneys announced on May 22, 2008, that long questionnaires with at least 115 queries would be given to a jury pool of 400 or more. Trial was reset from April to September 8, 2008.
In January 2008, Simpson was taken into custody in Florida and flown to Las Vegas where he was jailed for allegedly violating the terms of his bail by attempting to contact Clarence "C.J." Stewart, a co-defendant in the trial. District Attorney David Roger of Clark County, provided District Court Judge Jackie Glass with data that Simpson had violated terms of bail. The hearing on this bail issue was on January 16, 2008. Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass raised Simpson's bail to US$250,000 and ordered that he remain in jail until 15 percent of the bail, in cash, was paid. Simpson posted bond that evening and returned to Miami the next day.
Simpson and his co-defendant were found guilty of all charges on October 3, 2008.
On October 10, 2008, O. J. Simpson's counsels moved for new trial (trial de novo) on grounds of judicial errors (two African-American jurors were dismissed) and insufficient evidence. Galanter announced he would appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court if Judge Glass denies the motion. The attorney for Simpson's co-defendant, C.J. Stewart, petitioned for a new trial, alleging Stewart should have been tried separately, and cited perceived misconduct by the jury foreman, Paul Connelly.
Sentencing for Simpson and Stewart was set for December 5, 2008. Simpson faced a possible life sentence with parole on the kidnapping charge, and the robbery convictions carry mandatory prison time. On December 5, Simpson was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison with the possibility of parole in about 9 years. Simpson's lawyers plan to appeal, in an effort to gain eligibility for a mitigated sentence, giving parole sooner. A hearing has been set for August 3, 2009.
He is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada as Inmate #1027820
Number 4: Stanley Wilson
Arguably, the most notorious instance of Wilson's relapse into cocaine usage was on the eve of Super Bowl XXIII, where the Bengals were to play the San Francisco 49ers. Wilson told several teammates that he needed to get his playbook before their last meeting prior to the game. Twenty minutes later, his position coach, Jim Anderson, found him in the bathroom, deep in the throes of a cocaine high. The Bengals had no choice but to leave him off the roster. Wilson's relapse was his third offense under the NFL's drug policy, and he was banned from the league for life. It has been argued that the loss of Wilson may have contributed to the Bengals' loss to the 49ers. The field at Joe Robbie Stadium was somewhat muddy that night, but Wilson usually excelled in these conditions.
In the years after his relapse and banishment, Wilson was in and out of rehabilitation on several occasions. In 1999, he was convicted of stealing $130,000 in property from a Beverly Hills, California home to support his habit. He was sentenced to 22 years in Lancaster, California state prison for burglary. During his trial, Wilson's lawyer contended that Wilson suffers from bipolar disorder.
Number 3: Rae Carruth
On November 16, 1999, near Carruth's home in Charlotte, North Carolina; Cherica Adams, a woman Carruth had been dating, was shot four times in a drive-by shooting. Surviving the shooting for a time, Adams called 9-1-1 and described Carruth's behavior: he had stopped his vehicle in front of hers as another vehicle drove alongside Adams and its passenger shot her. Carruth then drove from the scene.
Adams was six months pregnant with Carruth's child. Soon after her admission to the hospital, Adams fell into a coma. Doctors saved the child, Chancellor Lee Adams, in an emergency Caesarean section, but Cherica Adams died a week later on December 14. Born prematurely and in distress, Chancellor has cerebral palsy.
Carruth went to the police and posted a $3million bail, with the condition that if either Cherica or Chancellor died, he would turn himself in. However, after Adams died, Carruth became a fugitive. The Panthers released him a few days later, citing a morals clause in his contract. He was eventually captured after being found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a motel in Parkers Crossroads, Tennessee. Also, in the trunk was $3,900 in cash, bottles to hold Carruth's urine, extra clothes, candy bars, and a cell phone.
At trial Rae Carruth was defended by both David Rudolf and Chris Fialko. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child. He was sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison. However, Carruth was found not guilty of first-degree murder and was spared the death penalty. Carruth is now serving a sentence of at least 19 years and 11 months at Nash Correctional Institution near Raleigh, North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, he has a projected release date of October 22, 2018.
Number 2: Darryl Henley
Currently, Henley is serving a 41 year sentence for trafficking cocaine and for attempting to murder the judge from his cocaine trial by hiring contract killers.
Darryl Henley, a former starting cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams and an All-American at UCLA, is not eligible for release from federal prison until 2031 for convictions on cocaine trafficking charges. He even pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to murder his sentencing judge and a witness in the drug case.
Something from his website:
In 1996, St. Louis Rams President, John Shaw, encouraged me to contact the popular college running back out of Nebraska, Lawrence Phillips (who was also their first round pick), in hopes of establishing a healthy rapport by sharing some of my negative experiences with him as a deterrent. At the time of his suggestion, my self-esteem was as low as it had ever been, and
quite honestly, I didn't know what to say or where to begin. In hindsight, it was the coward's way out. I was wallowing in self-pity. I never followed up.
Lawrence Phillips ended up having a sub-par NFL career and never reached his true potential; he also had several skirmishes with the law along the way.
I have no idea whether any correspondence between me and Lawrence would have made a difference in his NFL career, but the possibility exists that it could have. That incident has dogged me for years and I will never again leave anything as important as this to chance. I do have something to say, and I'm going to say it over and over with the hope that young people can learn from my example!
He has a website he runs from prison.
Number 1: Robert Rozier
After a series of petty crimes, Rozier found Yahweh ben Yahweh's "Temple of Love" in 1982. After first serving a six month prison sentence, he moved into the temple full time, and changed his name to "Neariah Israel", or child of god. In 1985, he decided to join "The Brotherhood," Yahweh's secret group, that required murdering a "white devil" and returning with a body part to join. Rozier would admit to killing seven White people to please Yahweh. He was arrested and charged with murder on October 31, 1986. After agreeing to testify against Yahweh's organization, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. After serving ten years in prison, Rozier was set free in 1996.
Rozier was placed in the witness protection program under the name Robert Ramses. On February 5, 1999, he was arrested for passing a bad check for $66 to pay for a car repair. After finding Rozier's true identity, police discovered a trail of 29 bounced checks totaling more than $2,000, and charged him with a felony. He was convicted, and under a third strike law, Judge Eddie T. Keller sentenced Rozier to serve 25 years to life. Rozier is incarcerated at California State Prison, Los Angeles County.