Ex-Rams RB Lawrence Phillips found dead in prison cell

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton reported that the prison staff found Phillips to be unresponsive after a routine security and curfew check just after midnight local time. Phillips was alive, Simas said, when he left the prison, and was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m.at an undisclosed hospital.

Phillips was a star back under Tom Osborne at Nebraska from 1993-1995 where he teamed with quarterback Tommie Frazier to form one of the best backfields of all-time.

Despite his noted character issues, Phillips was selected by the Rams with the sixth pick in the 1996 draft.

Phillips was serving a 31-year sentence after he was convicted of domestic violence, false imprisonment and vehicle theft.

Phillips’ death is being investigated as a suicide, although he had cautioned in letters to his former high school coach recently that he feared inmates in the prison wanted to kill him.

He played two games for the Dolphins in 1997 before attempting to relaunch his career in the NFL Europe.

Simas said there were no previous signs that Phillips was suicidal.

A preliminary hearing was held on Tuesday (Jan. 12), in which a Superior Court judge ruled there was “sufficient cause to believe” Phillips committed murder, which would’ve made way for a trial that could’ve ended with the death penalty.

Philips was projected by most sports pundits to be a game-changing running back but was upended repeatedly by violent incidents at the University of Nebraska and during his short National Football League tenure.

Phillips had been in a single-cell status after he was suspected of killing his cellmate.

Today, Phillips lost his life much too soon.

He last played with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2003.

In the past few months, Tonissa says Phillips was determined to clear his name in the April death of his cellmate – telling her he only acted in self-defense.