Ray Lewis and the Super Bowl Murders: The Buckhead Stabbing Case

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Super Bowl Sunday 2000

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While the St. Louis Rams celebrated inside the Georgia Dome, two men from Akrono,

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Hio were bleeding to death on a Buckhead street.

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At the center of it all was Ray Lewis, one of the NFL's most feared linebackers, wearing

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a cream-colored suit that would disappear by sunrise.

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This is a story of a champagne bottle, tactical knives bought at a sporting goods store, and

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how silence became the most powerful weapon of all.

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January 31st, 2000, the St. Louis Rams had won Super Bowl 34 in Atlanta hours earlier.

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Confetti fell inside the Georgia Dome, and if you were in Atlanta that weekend, you were

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at the center of the universe.

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Ray Lewis was 24 years old, already a pro-bowl linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens.

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On the field, he was ferocious.

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Off the field, he moved with an entourage like many athletes did in that era.

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Two guys in that circle were Joseph Sweating and Reginald Oakley.

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Sweating had known Ray Lewis since Miami.

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Oakley was newer to the group, from Baltimore and according to witnesses, he had a volatile

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streak.

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Jason Th Baker was 21.

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Richard Lawler was 24, both from Akrono, Hio.

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They'd moved to Atlanta during the late 1990s economic boom, trying to build something.

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Richard Lawler was a barber.

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Lawler was so skilled that clients would hand him $100 for a fate.

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He loved to draw and he loved to sing.

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His fiance was pregnant with their daughter, India, who'd be born months after his death.

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Lawler was the oldest of nine kids.

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Jason Th Baker went by shorty.

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He was an artist and a painter.

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Both parents died when he was young.

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Both men had minor legal issues.

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Lawler for marijuana possession, Baker for cocaine possession, and an open container

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violation.

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Parents' attorneys would later weaponize those records.

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But on that night, they were young men celebrating in a city that felt "electric."

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Two days before the murders, Ray Lewis was at a sports authority in Gwyneth Place Mall

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for an autograph signing.

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While Lewis worked the crowd, Sweating and Oakley were shopping in the same store.

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They bought knives.

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Tactical folding knives, specifically Gerber Camillean 2's.

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This model has a finger hole in the blade designed to give you a secure tactical grip.

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You can thrust hard without your hand slipping.

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It's built for combat.

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Why buy weapons like that in the middle of a promotional event for an NFL star?

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Maybe they felt like they needed protection.

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Maybe they always carried.

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Whatever the reasoning, those blades would pierce human flesh within 48 hours.

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A friend of Lewis's witness the knife purchase.

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Later, when Atlanta police homicide Lieutenant Mike Smith tried to interview his friend, the

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witness stormed out, accusing Smith of making a racist comment.

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That moment poisoned the entire investigation, creating a wall of distrust between Lewis's

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camp and the Atlanta police department.

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Early morning, January 31st, the cobalt lounge in Buckhead was the place to be.

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The club closed around 4 a.m.

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Hundreds of people flooded into East Paces ferry road.

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Ray Lewis and his group, maybe 10 people total, walked toward their rented Lincoln Navigator

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limo.

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There were a couple of hundred yards away from the club when paths crossed with the group

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containing Baker and Lawler.

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Reginald Oakley and someone from the Akron crew started jawing at each other.

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Then someone from the Akron group cracked a champagne bottle across the side of Oakley's

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head.

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In his self-published book years later, Oakley described everything exploded after that

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moment.

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This is where the entire legal case pivots.

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The defense would build their strategy around that bottle.

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When hit in the skull with glass is deadly force.

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Everything that followed was a reaction to being attacked.

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The prosecution saw it differently.

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The verbal confrontation was mutual.

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Pulling knives turned a fist fight into a massacre.

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The street erupted.

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The fights spilled from the sidewalk into traffic.

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It happened fast.

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Chester Anderson testifying for the prosecution initially said that he saw Ray Lewis square

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up and throw a kick.

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The Wayne facet, the limo driver, told police at first that he saw Lewis throwing punches.

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Jason Baker was pursued.

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Witnesses saw him lifted off the ground and then slammed onto the asphalt.

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While he was down, being beaten, he was stabbed four times.

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The fatal wound went through his heart.

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He died within seconds.

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Richard Lawler was cornered nearby.

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He took five stab wounds, deep punctures.

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He bled to death on the street.

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The criminal examiner's testimony would later confirm the wounds matched a blade capable

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of serious penetration.

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Exactly like those Gerber knives.

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The wounds weren't slashes.

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They were thrusts, targeted at vital organs.

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So where was Ray Lewis while this was happening?

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Lewis has consistently maintained he was trying to pull oakley and sweating away, trying

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to get everyone into the limo.

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He points out he was wearing a cream-colored suit, jewelry, and a mint coat worth a quarter

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million dollars.

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His logic goes, "Why would someone dress like that?

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Dive into a street brawl."

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The prosecution had a different theory.

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They found Jason Baker's blood inside the limo.

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If the killers had the victims blood on them and Lewis was right there in close contact,

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he was involved.

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Even if he never held a knife, if he was punching someone while they were being stabbed, he

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was legally part of the murder under Georgia Law.

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The group scrambled into the Lincoln Navigator, as they pulled away gunshots rang out.

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Bullets struck the limo.

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So the Akron group was armed with firearms, too.

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Inside that limo is where the cover-up began.

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According to the driver, Duane Fassett's statement, "Ray Lewis took control.

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He told everyone, 'Just keep your mouth shut and don't say nothing.'

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He specifically instructed Fassett, 'You don't know anything.

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Don't say who was in the limo.'

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This words became the obstruction of justice charge Lewis eventually pled to.

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During the ride back to their hotel, Lewis asked, 'Sweeting what happened.'

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Sweating said, 'Every time they hit me, I hit them.'

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As he spoke, he made a punching motion with a closed fist.

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That's the motion someone makes when holding a tactical knife.

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It was essentially a confession disguised as self-defense.

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Ray Lewis wore that cream-colored suit that night.

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He also wore the Mink coat.

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It was recovered, the Mink coat, the suit disappeared.

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Evelyn Sparks, a passenger in the limo, testified that she witnessed someone from the entourage

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dump a white hotel laundry bag into a garbage dumpster outside of a fast food restaurant

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near their hotel.

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Prosecutors believed that suit was soaked in blood.

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Lewis says he doesn't know what happened to it, but that missing piece of clothing haunts

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this case.

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It's the bloody glove that was never found.

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The destruction went further.

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Jessica Robertson, Lewis's girlfriend at the time received immunity and testified that

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she helped destroy photographs taken at the Cobalt Lounge earlier that night.

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Those photos would have documented exactly what everyone wore.

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She burned them in a hotel room sink.

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Ray Lewis was arrested that afternoon.

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The image of the pro-bowl linebacker in handcuffs broadcast worldwide.

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Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell said Lewis had blood dripping from his hands.

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His attorney Paul Howard was facing re-election.

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He rushed the indictment.

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On February 11, 11 days after the murders, a grand jury indicted Lewis, Oakley, and Sweden

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on murder charges.

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The state wanted life in prison.

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Lewis hired the best legal team money could buy.

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Ed Garland and Don Samuel were Georgia legends.

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Bruce Harvey represented Oakley, Steve Sado represented Sweden.

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The prosecution's case collapsed during trial.

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To ain't facet, their key witness changed his story on the stand.

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He said police coerced him.

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He softened everything, saying he only saw Lewis race his hand to break things up, never

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to strike anyone.

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Without facet identifying Lewis as an attacker, the murder charge against Lewis crumbled.

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Two weeks in, DA Paul Howard realized he was losing.

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So he cut a deal.

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Lewis pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice.

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He got 12 months probation.

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In return, he testified against Oakley and Sweden.

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When Lewis took the stand, he used the laser pointer to demonstrate suiting stabbing motions.

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He confirmed the knife purchase.

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He confirmed the confession in the car.

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But he framed everything else in a context of men under attack.

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The defense hammered self-defense.

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The Akron group initiated violence with the bottle.

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Under Georgia law, if you face death or a great bodily harm, you don't have a duty to

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retreat.

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Justice against a mob with bottles and guns was proportional response.

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June 12, 2000.

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The jury deliberated less than five hours.

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Verticked, not guilty, on all counts for both regional Oakley and Joseph Sweden.

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For the families of Jason Th Baker and Richard Lawler, the verdict was crushing.

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Two men were dead on a street in Buckhead, and the legal system determined no crime occurred.

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Ray Lewis settled civil lawsuits with both families.

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India Lawler, Richard's daughter received around $1 million.

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The Baker family got an undisclosed sum.

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The 2000 season became Lewis's resurrection.

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He played with supernatural intensity.

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The Ravens defense, that year, is still considered one of the greatest in NFL history.

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The Super Bowl, exactly one year after the murders, Lewis was named the MVP.

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He reinvented himself as a spiritual leader, quoting scripture, preaching redemption.

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Some people saw genuine transformation.

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Others saw calculated image repair.

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That cream-colored suits has never been found.

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It's probably in a Georgia landfill holding whatever truth exists about Ray Lewis's involvement

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that night.

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Jason Th Baker's family and Richard Lawler's family watched Lewis become a hall of

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famer, a media personality, a legend.

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For them, justice was something you could buy within an NFL contract.

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Two young men died over nothing.

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Over words, an ego and champagne.

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The man at the center walked away to glory, but those shadows follow him.

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They always will.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host, and let's read an email, subject why I keep listening.

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Hey, Joe, I lost my sister a few years ago in a violent situation that never really made

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sense to any of us.

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I don't listen to true crime for answers, but I do listen because it helps to hear stories

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realize.

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I just wanted you to know that someone out here notices that.

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Karen, in Traverse City, Michigan.

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And Karen, thank you for the email.

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I don't really know how to respond to that, but I really do appreciate you reaching out.

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