Former Rams first-round pick Lawrence Phillips, who is suspected of murdering his prison cell mate, killed himself today in a Cal correctional facility..
Phillips, a ridiculously talented but violent former running back, was discovered by staffers at 12:05 a.m. in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison and rushed to a hospital. Doctors confirmed his death at 1:27 a.m., prison officials said. He was 40 years old.
Phillips was serving 31 years after he was convicted in 2009 of beating an ex-girlfriend, in addition to a 2005 assault on three teens. The former star had tried to run over the teens with his car following a pick-up football game.
The Rams picked Phillips sixth overall in 1996 NFL draft despite a long history of trouble during his college days at the University of Nebraska, where he’d been arrested for assaulting a girlfriend.