Lawrence Phillips Update (Spoiler Alert: Not Good)

[swmohusker]

Awesome article. Great perspective to such a sad story.

[mnhusker]

^{Nice read and although I have no idea what happened it sounds like the convicted murder and gang hit man made an error in judgment and he went after a guy who has been an elite athlete and who keeps to himself, stays quiet and works out for hours everyday. At the end of the day the whole this is a sad story.}

[suh_fan93]

Phillips will be prosecuted for death of cellmate

 

[TonyStalloni]

It almost sounds as if the prison had a desire to see one of the convicts die at the hands of his roommate, then prosecute the survivor. Kill two birds with one stone. I wonder if they had a video camera in the cell and were placing bets on the winner?

[Savage Husker]

Not an attempt to condone crime/murder, but from the letters he wrote, they come off pretty foretelling of this situation and could have been avoided. What's the thought process of putting violent criminals in a cage together and expecting them to make things work. Makes no sense.

[NUance]

It almost sounds as if the prison had a desire to see one of the convicts die at the hands of his roommate, then prosecute the survivor. Kill two birds with one stone. I wonder if they had a video camera in the cell and were placing bets on the winner?

 

Yeah, it's surprising the prison officials aren't in hot water over this. I mean, it's beyond predictable that one or the other would be injured or killed. It would've been nearly been unavoidable.

[skersfan]

I spent a lot of time reading about Lawarnce after this came out. I had very little respect for him at the time. I now feel He wasted chances in his life, but truly was not the type to be in prison. He just wanted to be left alone. I hate the opinions of him that the nation has, it hurts the program and a very good man. I would imagine he will win his case, by losing. He will get his solitare cell. Keeping him away from the gang bangers that he truly hates.

 

Lots of people have tough lives, most do not have the easy part the LP had. He knows what he had and nothing can hurt worse than knowing you caused your situation. I have pulled back my disdain for him. I just wish Nebraska and Coach Osborne could have helped more. Deep down the guy is a good guy, just in some aspects a few bricks short of a load. I hope the court proceedings go like he wants them. He deserves to be happy/safe.

[Huskerzoo]

I wont make any excuses for LP but as a foster parent and an adoptive parent of a children from a broken home with abuse I can understand what is going on with him. We have under gone therapy for 7 years and we are talking about a child that came to us at 15months and 6 months old which had issues of abuse as it is ingrained into the childs brain and it is very hard for them to make the right choices even though they know it is wrong to do. Again what he did was wrong and there are punishments for it but what you don't understand with him and alot of these people that make the wrong choice is that is the way their brain tells them to act even if they know it is wrong. If you dont get therapy as a child it is almost imposible to change as an adult because your brain is set in your ways. I mean how would you like it if your mother sat there and watched a man abuse you day after day growing up and not doing anything to stop it your brain would tell you it is ok for violence. The man held LP on the ground with his foot and would piss on him how would that make you feel day in an day out as a child.

There is so much wrong with what you just said.

[Moiraine]

 

I wont make any excuses for LP but as a foster parent and an adoptive parent of a children from a broken home with abuse I can understand what is going on with him. We have under gone therapy for 7 years and we are talking about a child that came to us at 15months and 6 months old which had issues of abuse as it is ingrained into the childs brain and it is very hard for them to make the right choices even though they know it is wrong to do. Again what he did was wrong and there are punishments for it but what you don't understand with him and alot of these people that make the wrong choice is that is the way their brain tells them to act even if they know it is wrong. If you dont get therapy as a child it is almost imposible to change as an adult because your brain is set in your ways. I mean how would you like it if your mother sat there and watched a man abuse you day after day growing up and not doing anything to stop it your brain would tell you it is ok for violence. The man held LP on the ground with his foot and would piss on him how would that make you feel day in an day out as a child.

There is so much wrong with what you just said.

 

 

It might not have been put the most eloquently, but there's almost nothing wrong with what they said.

[Tatum]

 

I wont make any excuses for LP but as a foster parent and an adoptive parent of a children from a broken home with abuse I can understand what is going on with him. We have under gone therapy for 7 years and we are talking about a child that came to us at 15months and 6 months old which had issues of abuse as it is ingrained into the childs brain and it is very hard for them to make the right choices even though they know it is wrong to do. Again what he did was wrong and there are punishments for it but what you don't understand with him and alot of these people that make the wrong choice is that is the way their brain tells them to act even if they know it is wrong. If you dont get therapy as a child it is almost imposible to change as an adult because your brain is set in your ways. I mean how would you like it if your mother sat there and watched a man abuse you day after day growing up and not doing anything to stop it your brain would tell you it is ok for violence. The man held LP on the ground with his foot and would piss on him how would that make you feel day in an day out as a child.

There is so much wrong with what you just said.

I read his post and, at that time, I was like "yeah, I can agree with what you just said, and it jives with everything I've learned secondhand of these situations, and your extensive personal background obviously gives you credibility." But then I read your post, with all your eloquent rebuttals and realized he is obviously wrong. Thanks for the enlightenment, bro.

[California Husker]

I spent a lot of time reading about Lawarnce after this came out. I had very little respect for him at the time. I now feel He wasted chances in his life, but truly was not the type to be in prison. He just wanted to be left alone. I hate the opinions of him that the nation has, it hurts the program and a very good man. I would imagine he will win his case, by losing. He will get his solitare cell. Keeping him away from the gang bangers that he truly hates.

 

Lots of people have tough lives, most do not have the easy part the LP had. He knows what he had and nothing can hurt worse than knowing you caused your situation. I have pulled back my disdain for him. I just wish Nebraska and Coach Osborne could have helped more. Deep down the guy is a good guy, just in some aspects a few bricks short of a load. I hope the court proceedings go like he wants them. He deserves to be happy/safe.

Obviously I don't know LP personally, and I don't share his life experience. I never lived in a group home and I was never a victim of an abusive adult. However, I am from the same town where LP spent some of his formative years. I didn't go to Baldwin Park High School (I went to another area school), but I am originally from BP and it is a rough place to grow up. Street crime, drugs and gang violence is just part of the landscape. You can't escape that place without seeing it, being victimized by it, and having it affect you in some way. You learn that violence is the way you deal with your problems. Some of us are lucky enough to have a strong Christian background and a LOT of luck, and escape relatively unharmed...but...all people are not the same and Lawrence Phillips didn't live the same life as me. I just know that if you add living in a group home, being a victim of domestic violence and being abandoned by your mother to growing up in Baldwin Park??? It's no wonder he has had a tough go of it. I grew up with people with only one of those variables (just being from our neighborhood) that turned out just as bad or worse than LP. I am sad for him and I wish him peace with the remaining years of his life.

[StPaulHusker]

So this is taking an interesting turn:

 

http://www.tmz.com/2015/09/09/lawrence-phillips-murder-case-victim-may-have-been-sexually-assaulted/

[Mavric]

The former cellmate Lawrence Phillips is accused of killing hid razor blades in a Bible, soap and in his pubic hair and once attacked an inmate with a razor-edged weapon, according to custody records.

 

The razor blades were discovered during three incidents between 2004 and '06 and the attack took place in '08 when Damion Soward was in San Bernardino (Calif.) County Jail, the records show. Prison guards also recovered a six-inch knife in Soward’s shoe in 2014 when he was going through a metal detector at Calipatria State Prison, according to records.

 

<snip>

 

In total, Soward was involved in 12 incidents involving weapons or violence while incarcerated dating back to 2004, according to the records.

 

In 2008, Soward assaulted an inmate with a razor-edged weapon in the San Bernardino County Jail and the inmate suffered injuries to his face and arms, records show. A year earlier, according to records, guards found Soward and another inmate pinning down a third inmate and beating him with chains, fists and elbows.

 

Soward, who was serving an 82-year sentence before he died April 12, was a member of the Projects Gangland Black Rag Mafia Crip Street Gang, records show.

 

In letters Phillips wrote to former coaches over 18 months before Soward’s death, he said he’d had conflicts inside prison with gang members. Phillips also wrote that he’d accepted solitary confinement rather then share a cell with a gang member.

USA Today

[Bowfin]

I still maintain that Phillips was NOT the worst one in that prison cell. I wouldn't be scandalized if this was declared self defense.

[skersfan]

I am hoping for that. He chose solitary over being with a gang banger, tells you he did not want the conflict, but was forced on him.