It's an unfortunate situation and they could put 10,000 people in prison but it won't bring their nephew back. Those wounds don't heal regardless of who is convicted, but you can't expect the court system to prosecute based on the family's emotions.
The point I was making is why this can't simply be "let go".
There are PEOPLE involved.
Thank goodness I do not base my personal feelings and convictions on how our criminal justice system operates.
There is more to just "Guilty by association" because he was there. If we base it simply on his being there, every passenger in a vehicle involved in vehicular homicide should be "gulity by association", right?
There obvious stipulations to certain situations... If your with a friend and he starts a fight, steals something, or breaks into a house and you don't attempt to stop him like Lewis didn't, then yea your guilty, that's how it goes... Unless your a narc, or a snitch like he was then you get a secret plea deal to not get in trouble if you testify...
It's our justice system fellas. If he was punished accordingly, and by that I mean through the court systems, let it go.
Actually, I remember it well and from Day 1 I knew he would walk. To refresh some of your memories, it was clear the prosecutor in the case saw Lewis name as a way to make some headlines for himself. I followed it closely and remember thinking all along that the "victims" in this case were just as bad/thug and that the only reason they were "victims" anyway is because they were on the losing end.
If he was there he was involved! End of story! Guilty By Association!! It's the law, and because he is who he is, he got off... Much like OJ, it just took OJ years of acting like a dumb@$$ to finally have them throw the book at him..
I am pretty sure guilty by association is not really the law in any jurisdiction in America. Actually I'm pretty sure our Constitution and entire criminal justice system was built around avoiding this result.
Following a Super Bowl XXXIV party in Atlanta on January 31, 2000, a fight broke out between Lewis and his companions and another group of people, resulting in the stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. Lewis and two companions, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, were questioned by Atlanta police, and 11 days later the three men were indicted on murder and aggravated-assault charges. The white suit Lewis was wearing the night of the killings has never been found. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard alleged the blood-stained suit was dumped in a garbage bin outside a fast food restaurant.[36]
Lewis' attorneys, Don Samuel and Ed Garland, of the Atlanta law firm Garland, Samuel & Loeb, negotiated a plea agreement with Howard, where the murder charges against Lewis were dismissed in exchange for his testimony against Oakley and Sweeting, and his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice.[12] Lewis admitted he gave a misleading statement to police on the morning after the killings. Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner sentenced Lewis to 12 months' probation, the maximum sentence for a first-time offender,[37] and he was fined $250,000 by the NFL, which was believed to be the highest fine levied against an NFL player for an infraction not involving substance abuse.[38] Under the terms of the sentence, Lewis could not use drugs or alcohol during the duration of the probation.
Oakley and Sweeting were acquitted of the charges in June 2000.[39] No other suspects have ever been arrested for the crime.
The following year, Lewis was named Super Bowl XXXV MVP. However, the signature phrase "I'm going to Disney World!" was given instead to quarterback Trent Dilfer.
On April 29, 2004, Lewis reached a settlement with four-year-old India Lollar, born months after the death of her father Richard, pre-empting a scheduled civil proceeding. Lewis also reached an undisclosed settlement with Baker's family.
yeah, lets all not forgot the victims....both fled from ohio to atlanta to get away from their criminal past....baker was wanted by police for violating probation on gun and drug charges....there was a fightin the streets after closing time...one of the victims broke a bottle over the head on one of lewis's friend starting the whole thing....and the victims friends were shooting at the limo as it drove off....
the victims in the case were wanna be thugs trying to bigtime with the wrong people at the wrong time
please tell both sides of the story....lewis pled to obstruction because the D.A. couldnt make the case for murder...on any of them as it turns out
I'm sure that you have a feeling one way or another about it, but being honest would (probably) undermine your argument, so I get the diplomatic answer.
Ray Lewis is revered and celebrated because he should be. He didn't murder anyone, he got caught in a situation where some punks acted a fool and paid the ultimate price.
Ray is fortunate as all get-out and knows it. And he has conducted himself accordingly after that incident. To try and define him by that incident is to ignore the life he has quite publicly lived.
Again, he's obviously fortunate as hell. But to consistently try and trash him because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and perhaps incredibly young and dumb while in that wrong place at the wrong time, is ridiculous. Not to mention uncharitable.
The players in the NFL don't revere him because he's some kind of a thug, they revere him because he's obviously one of the all-time greats *and* they have walked a mile in his shoes. They have had to deal with guys looking to make a name for themselves on the streets at the expense of NFL players.
It should be embarrassing to try and equate him with the outrageous crime committed by O.J. Simpson. The two situations aren't analogous at all.
I'm sure that you have a feeling one way or another about it, but being honest would (probably) undermine your argument, so I get the diplomatic answer.
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