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Ravens' J. Lewis Sentenced to Four Months in Jail

By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 27, 2005; 4:40 PM

ATLANTA, Jan. 26 -- Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, who led the NFL in rushing in 2003, was sentenced to four months in prison Wednesday at a federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., as the result of a plea bargain stemming from federal drug charges.

As part of his plea agreement, which was reached in October, Lewis also was fined $20,000 and will serve an additional two months at Dismas House, a halfway house, in Atlanta. Lewis also will perform 500 hours of community service.

Lewis, 25, appeared in court Wednesday on crutches. "I just want to say I'm truly sorry for what I did," Lewis said in a statement to the court. He was wearing a cast from ankle surgery and was expected to report to prison after having the cast removed, most likely Feb. 4.

Lewis had pleaded guilty to a charge of using a cellphone to facilitate a drug transaction -- one of seven counts in an indictment filed last February in connection incident that occurred in the summer of 2000, after he was drafted by the Ravens but before he had signed with them.

"The government did not have as strong of a case as it would have liked against Mr. Lewis," Chief U.S. District Judge Orinda Evans said during the sentencing hearing. "The government had only one witness to the transaction that Mr. Lewis was charged with. She was potentially quite impeachable. She was an undercover informant and had a very questionable background and could have been impeached at trial.

"What the government got out of it [the plea agreement] was the certainty of a conviction and what Mr. Lewis got was a lesser sentence," the judge said. "I think if this case would have gone to trial when it was scheduled to go trial, there was a high possibility it would have been difficult for a jury to come to a guilty verdict.

"I think Mr. Lewis gets some credit for stepping up to the bar and taking responsibility for his actions and admitting guilt," Evans added.

Ed Garland, Lewis's lawyer, said he felt the decision to negotiate a plea agreement was the right one. "We believe we did the right thing. There are no regrets," Garland said. "Faced with the situation again, we wouldn't do anything differently. Jamal Lewis has got his life and his career back. I think he's ready to get it over with.

A motion by the Baltimore Sun and Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, requesting a copy of a pre-sentencing report was denied by Evans.