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

0:00 Super Bowl Sunday 2000 While the St. Louis Rams celebrated inside the Georgia Dome, two men from Akrono, Hio were bleeding to death on a Buckhead street. At the center of it all was Ray Lewis, one of the NFL's most feared linebackers, wearing a cream-colored suit that would disappear by sunrise. This is a story of a champagne bottle, tactical knives bought at a sporting goods store, and how silence became the most powerful weapon of all.

0:54 January 31st, 2000, the St. Louis Rams had won Super Bowl 34 in Atlanta hours earlier. Confetti fell inside the Georgia Dome, and if you were in Atlanta that weekend, you were at the center of the universe. Ray Lewis was 24 years old, already a pro-bowl linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. On the field, he was ferocious. Off the field, he moved with an entourage like many athletes did in that era. Two guys in that circle were Joseph Sweating and Reginald Oakley. Sweating had known Ray Lewis since Miami. Oakley was newer to the group, from Baltimore and according to witnesses, he had a volatile streak.

1:34 Jason Th Baker was 21. Richard Lawler was 24, both from Akrono, Hio. They'd moved to Atlanta during the late 1990s economic boom, trying to build something. Richard Lawler was a barber. Lawler was so skilled that clients would hand him $100 for a fate. He loved to draw and he loved to sing. His fiance was pregnant with their daughter, India, who'd be born months after his death. Lawler was the oldest of nine kids. Jason Th Baker went by shorty. He was an artist and a painter. Both parents died when he was young. Both men had minor legal issues. Lawler for marijuana possession, Baker for cocaine possession, and an open container violation.

2:16 Parents' attorneys would later weaponize those records. But on that night, they were young men celebrating in a city that felt "electric." Two days before the murders, Ray Lewis was at a sports authority in Gwyneth Place Mall for an autograph signing. While Lewis worked the crowd, Sweating and Oakley were shopping in the same store. They bought knives. Tactical folding knives, specifically Gerber Camillean 2's. This model has a finger hole in the blade designed to give you a secure tactical grip. You can thrust hard without your hand slipping. It's built for combat. Why buy weapons like that in the middle of a promotional event for an NFL star? Maybe they felt like they needed protection.

2:58 Maybe they always carried. Whatever the reasoning, those blades would pierce human flesh within 48 hours. A friend of Lewis's witness the knife purchase. Later, when Atlanta police homicide Lieutenant Mike Smith tried to interview his friend, the witness stormed out, accusing Smith of making a racist comment. That moment poisoned the entire investigation, creating a wall of distrust between Lewis's camp and the Atlanta police department. Early morning, January 31st, the cobalt lounge in Buckhead was the place to be. The club closed around 4 a.m. Hundreds of people flooded into East Paces ferry road. Ray Lewis and his group, maybe 10 people total, walked toward their rented Lincoln Navigator limo.

3:43 There were a couple of hundred yards away from the club when paths crossed with the group containing Baker and Lawler. Reginald Oakley and someone from the Akron crew started jawing at each other. Then someone from the Akron group cracked a champagne bottle across the side of Oakley's head. In his self-published book years later, Oakley described everything exploded after that moment. This is where the entire legal case pivots. The defense would build their strategy around that bottle. When hit in the skull with glass is deadly force. Everything that followed was a reaction to being attacked. The prosecution saw it differently. The verbal confrontation was mutual. Pulling knives turned a fist fight into a massacre.

4:25 The street erupted. The fights spilled from the sidewalk into traffic. It happened fast. Chester Anderson testifying for the prosecution initially said that he saw Ray Lewis square up and throw a kick. The Wayne facet, the limo driver, told police at first that he saw Lewis throwing punches. Jason Baker was pursued. Witnesses saw him lifted off the ground and then slammed onto the asphalt. While he was down, being beaten, he was stabbed four times. The fatal wound went through his heart. He died within seconds. Richard Lawler was cornered nearby. He took five stab wounds, deep punctures. He bled to death on the street. The criminal examiner's testimony would later confirm the wounds matched a blade capable of serious penetration.

5:11 Exactly like those Gerber knives. The wounds weren't slashes. They were thrusts, targeted at vital organs. So where was Ray Lewis while this was happening? Lewis has consistently maintained he was trying to pull oakley and sweating away, trying to get everyone into the limo. He points out he was wearing a cream-colored suit, jewelry, and a mint coat worth a quarter million dollars. His logic goes, "Why would someone dress like that? Dive into a street brawl." The prosecution had a different theory. They found Jason Baker's blood inside the limo. If the killers had the victims blood on them and Lewis was right there in close contact, he was involved.

5:51 Even if he never held a knife, if he was punching someone while they were being stabbed, he was legally part of the murder under Georgia Law. The group scrambled into the Lincoln Navigator, as they pulled away gunshots rang out. Bullets struck the limo. So the Akron group was armed with firearms, too. Inside that limo is where the cover-up began. According to the driver, Duane Fassett's statement, "Ray Lewis took control. He told everyone, 'Just keep your mouth shut and don't say nothing.' He specifically instructed Fassett, 'You don't know anything. Don't say who was in the limo.' This words became the obstruction of justice charge Lewis eventually pled to. During the ride back to their hotel, Lewis asked, 'Sweeting what happened.' Sweating said, 'Every time they hit me, I hit them.' As he spoke, he made a punching motion with a closed fist.

6:43 That's the motion someone makes when holding a tactical knife. It was essentially a confession disguised as self-defense. Ray Lewis wore that cream-colored suit that night. He also wore the Mink coat. It was recovered, the Mink coat, the suit disappeared. Evelyn Sparks, a passenger in the limo, testified that she witnessed someone from the entourage dump a white hotel laundry bag into a garbage dumpster outside of a fast food restaurant near their hotel. Prosecutors believed that suit was soaked in blood. Lewis says he doesn't know what happened to it, but that missing piece of clothing haunts this case. It's the bloody glove that was never found. The destruction went further.

7:23 Jessica Robertson, Lewis's girlfriend at the time received immunity and testified that she helped destroy photographs taken at the Cobalt Lounge earlier that night. Those photos would have documented exactly what everyone wore. She burned them in a hotel room sink. Ray Lewis was arrested that afternoon. The image of the pro-bowl linebacker in handcuffs broadcast worldwide. Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell said Lewis had blood dripping from his hands. His attorney Paul Howard was facing re-election. He rushed the indictment. On February 11, 11 days after the murders, a grand jury indicted Lewis, Oakley, and Sweden on murder charges. The state wanted life in prison.

8:04 Lewis hired the best legal team money could buy. Ed Garland and Don Samuel were Georgia legends. Bruce Harvey represented Oakley, Steve Sado represented Sweden. The prosecution's case collapsed during trial. To ain't facet, their key witness changed his story on the stand. He said police coerced him. He softened everything, saying he only saw Lewis race his hand to break things up, never to strike anyone. Without facet identifying Lewis as an attacker, the murder charge against Lewis crumbled. Two weeks in, DA Paul Howard realized he was losing. So he cut a deal. Lewis pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice.

8:45 He got 12 months probation. In return, he testified against Oakley and Sweden. When Lewis took the stand, he used the laser pointer to demonstrate suiting stabbing motions. He confirmed the knife purchase. He confirmed the confession in the car. But he framed everything else in a context of men under attack. The defense hammered self-defense. The Akron group initiated violence with the bottle. Under Georgia law, if you face death or a great bodily harm, you don't have a duty to retreat. Justice against a mob with bottles and guns was proportional response. June 12, 2000. The jury deliberated less than five hours.

9:25 Verticked, not guilty, on all counts for both regional Oakley and Joseph Sweden. For the families of Jason Th Baker and Richard Lawler, the verdict was crushing. Two men were dead on a street in Buckhead, and the legal system determined no crime occurred. Ray Lewis settled civil lawsuits with both families. India Lawler, Richard's daughter received around $1 million. The Baker family got an undisclosed sum. The 2000 season became Lewis's resurrection. He played with supernatural intensity. The Ravens defense, that year, is still considered one of the greatest in NFL history. The Super Bowl, exactly one year after the murders, Lewis was named the MVP.

10:08 He reinvented himself as a spiritual leader, quoting scripture, preaching redemption. Some people saw genuine transformation. Others saw calculated image repair. That cream-colored suits has never been found. It's probably in a Georgia landfill holding whatever truth exists about Ray Lewis's involvement that night. Jason Th Baker's family and Richard Lawler's family watched Lewis become a hall of famer, a media personality, a legend. For them, justice was something you could buy within an NFL contract. Two young men died over nothing. Over words, an ego and champagne. The man at the center walked away to glory, but those shadows follow him.

10:51 They always will. Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories. I'm Joe, I'm the host, and let's read an email, subject why I keep listening. Hey, Joe, I lost my sister a few years ago in a violent situation that never really made sense to any of us. I don't listen to true crime for answers, but I do listen because it helps to hear stories handled with some care and patience. Your show does that. It doesn't feel like you're trying to shock people, and that matters more than you probably realize. I just wanted you to know that someone out here notices that.

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