| | Associated Press
ATLANTA -- Two friends and former co-defendants of football
star Ray Lewis were acquitted of murder and assault charges Monday
in the stabbings of two men after a post-Super Bowl party.
The jury deliberated less than five hours before returning the
verdicts in the trial of Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley.
The verdicts came just hours after Lewis practiced with the
Baltimore Ravens for the first time since pleading guilty to a
misdemeanor charge and testifying for the prosecution in the murder
case.
Oakley hugged his attorney, Bruce Harvey, who pumped his fist in
exuberance when the verdicts were announced. Sweeting leaned over
and put his head on the defense table.
Sweeting, Oakley and Lewis were charged with murder, felony
murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 31 deaths of Jacinth
Baker and Richard Lollar, who were stabbed outside the party in
Atlanta's Buckhead entertainment district.
Lewis, the NFL's top tackler last season, reached a plea
agreement with District Attorney Paul Howard last week. He pleaded
guilty to a misdemeanor obstruction-of-justice charge, testified
against Oakley and Sweeting, and will serve a year of probation,
but no jail time.
"The irony of this case is the only person convicted in this
case was Ray Lewis," Harvey said.
The Ravens' minicamp in Owings Mills, Md., was finished by the
time the verdicts came down and Lewis was unavailable for comment.
The Ravens said they would have no comment on the acquittals.
Sweeting, a longtime friend of Lewis' from Miami, was charged
with Lollar's death. Oakley, an acquaintance of Lewis from
Baltimore, was charged with Baker's death.
Both faced life in prison if convicted, but the jury found them
innocent on all counts.
"We are deeply, deeply disappointed in the verdict," Howard
said. "We thought that we had presented ... substantial evidence
that we thought should have resulted in a verdict of guilty for
these defendants. That didn't happen."
Families of the victims gathered in the hallway outside the
courtroom.
"This is ridiculous," said Faye Lollar, Lollar's aunt. "That
money sure did buy a lot of people. All that blood. ... I don't
believe this."
Baker and Lollar were stabbed during a street fight that erupted
around 4 a.m. as the nightclubs in the Buckhead district were
closing after the Super Bowl, which was held in Atlanta.
Evidence showed Baker started the brawl by hitting Oakley in the
head with a champagne bottle. Sweeting tried to help Oakley, but
never made it because two large men attacked him and dragged him
behind a tree, Lewis testified. Lewis said he then saw Sweeting
regain his footing and start throwing punches and fighting back.
Lewis said Oakley and another member of Lewis' group, Carlos
Stafford, were fighting with Baker. He said Oakley punched Baker
four or five times in the chest while Stafford was kicking him.
Lewis was the only witness to put a knife in anyone's hand. He
testified that Sweeting, Oakley and another friend, Kwame King,
bought knives at a sporting goods store one day before the Super
Bowl.
He also told the jury that he demanded an explanation from
Sweeting after the fight ended. Sweeting showed him a knife, made
punching motions with it and said, "Every time they hit me, I hit
them," Lewis testified.
In closing arguments, the district attorney conceded that no
witness saw Sweeting or Oakley stab anyone. Instead, Howard
insisted there was enough circumstantial evidence to warrant a
murder conviction.
Howard, who said the verdict allowed two guilty men to go free,
plans to review the case and may bring charges against other people
who were in Lewis' limousine. But those will not likely be murder
charges.
"We thought we had the principal doers of this act, and that's
still the case," Howard said.
Sweeting's attorney, John Bergendahl, told the jury that the
real killer was King, whom Bergendahl called "the man in black."
He said King, who has never appeared in court, had a large knife
and matched the descriptions several witnesses gave.
Three other men in Lewis' rented limousine -- Stafford and two
men known only as Gino and Claudus -- also never appeared in court
during three weeks of testimony.
The linebacker's legal fees and expenses will exceed $1 million,
but the deal will enable him to keep intact his $26 million
contract with the Ravens.
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