Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips found dead
Wednesday 13 January 2016 20:44, UK
Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips has been found dead in his prison cell in California.
The 40-year-old's death is being investigated as a suicide by police after he was discovered unresponsive by guards at Kern Valley State Prison in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Phillips, who played for St Louis, Miami Dolphins and the San Francisco 49ers, was serving a 31-year sentence and had been in segregation since April 2013 for the suspected killing of his cellmate.
He was jailed in 2008 after he was convicted of choking his girlfriend and driving his car into three people in 2005.
On Tuesday a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to try Phillips for the death of 37-year-old Damion Soward, who was strangled to death at Kern Valley State Prison last April.
The decision cleared the way for a trial which could have seen Phillips facing the death penalty if found guilty.
