--- description: He is serving a 31-year, four-month sentence after being charged in 2005 with assaulting his then-girlfriend. title: Ex-NFL Player Suspected in Murder of Prison Cellmate image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1956dc3af0666287/6987eae13c1639411d45576e/lawrence-phillips.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ex-NFL Player Suspected in Murder of Prison Cellmate by [Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated](/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2015 12:41 AM CUT  Lawrence Phillips in 1996 in Charlotte, NC. Lawrence Phillips in 1996 in Charlotte, NC.Joe Robbins—Getty Images by [Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated](/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2015 12:41 AM CUT Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips is suspected of murdering his cellmate at a California prison, prison officials [said Monday](http://cdcrtoday.blogspot.com/2015/04/inmate-deaths-at-kern-valley-state.html "undefined"). Phillips’s cellmate, Damion Soward, was found unresponsive in their cell at Kern Valley State Prison shortly after midnight Saturday morning. He was taken to a local hospital and died Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. Soward was serving 82 years to life for first-degree murder. Phillips is serving a 31-year, four-month sentence for “inflicting great bodily injury involving domestic violence, corporal injury to spouse, false imprisonment and vehicle theft.” He was charged in 2005 with assaulting his then-girlfriend, choking her until she was unconscious. While being investigated in that case, he struck three teenagers with a car after a dispute at a youth football game. He began serving his sentence in 2008. Phillips was a standout at the University of Nebraska, where he averaged 143.5 yards per game as a sophomore in 1994\. During his junior season, he was charged with [assaulting his then-girlfriend](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-09-17/sports/9509170415%5F1%5Flawrence-phillips-gas-station-robbery-nebraska "undefined"), a Nebraska basketball player, dragging her down three flights of stairs. Phillips was the sixth pick of the 1996 NFL draft by the St. Louis [Rams](http://www.si.com/nfl/team/st-louis-rams "undefined"). He was released by the Rams midway through the 1997 season and signed with the Miami Dolphins. Miami released Phillips after he was charged with assaulting a woman at a Florida nightclub. He played for seven different teams in five leagues and three countries. _This_ [_article_](http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/04/13/lawrence-phillips-murder-investigation-prison-cellmate "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_SI.com_](http://si.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3820565/lawrence-phillips-california-prison-former-nfl-player/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3820565/lawrence-phillips-california-prison-former-nfl-player/"},"headline":"Ex-NFL Player Suspected in Murder of Prison Cellmate","datePublished":"2015-04-14T00:41:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:22:22.304Z","description":"He is serving a 31-year, four-month sentence after being charged in 2005 with assaulting his then-girlfriend","url":"https://time.com/3820565/lawrence-phillips-california-prison-former-nfl-player/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1956dc3af0666287/6987eae13c1639411d45576e/lawrence-phillips.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1956dc3af0666287/6987eae13c1639411d45576e/lawrence-phillips.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"St. Louis Rams v Carolina Panthers","caption":"St. Louis Rams v Carolina Panthers","creditText":"Joe Robbins—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3820565/lawrence-phillips-california-prison-former-nfl-player/","name":"Ex-NFL Player Suspected in Murder of Prison Cellmate"}}]}] ```