Ray Lewis is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and one of the most iconic figures in the sport’s history. Back in 2000, a trial over the stabbing death of two men nearly changed the fate of his career.
Lewis, currently an analyst on Fox Sports, was celebrating with a group of friends the morning after Super Bowl 34, during which the Rams beat the Titans on Jan. 30, 2000. Then a linebacker with the Ravens, Lewis had only gone through four years in the NFL, all in Baltimore.
Early in the morning of Jan. 31, 2000, two men were stabbed and killed by members of Lewis’ entourage during a brawl in Atlanta.
The entire incident was major news, both for the man at the center of the incident and for the mystery behind it. Lewis was a rising star in the NFL, who would win a Super Bowl and earn the game’s MVP trophy just one year after the incident as part of a Hall of Fame career. And the altercation featured a missing suit, a knife with no DNA evidence and a trial filled with changing testimonies.