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On Sunday evening, Ray Lewis reached what can arguably be considered the pinnacle of his 17-season career: A trip back to the Super Bowl before calling it quits. Lewis is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring figures in sports today. However, as Wes Welker's wife—not so eloquently—pointed out, Lewis' past includes a murder charge from February 2000.
During a Super Bowl XXXIV after party, Lewis along with two of his companions were involved in a brawl that resulted in the deaths of two men. Lewis cut a deal with prosecutors which resulted in his murder charge being dropped to an obstruction of justice charge in exchange for his testimony. Just a year later Lewis led his team to a Super Bowl victory and won MVP honors. Athletes who are hit with murder charges don't always get off scot-free and win rings though. Just ask Rae Carruth who spent his 39th birthday behind bars on Sunday as Ray Ray stamped his ticket to the Super Bowl.
To see how ballers have fared when faced with the accusation of taking another persons' life, peep a History of Athletes Catching Murder Charges.
*The athletes on this list were confined to those specifically charged with murder. Not manslaughter. We see you, Jayson Williams.*
Don King
Sport: Boxing
Year: 1954 and 1967
Murder Charges: The second-degree murder of Hillary Brown and the second-degree murder of Sam Garrett.
Outcome: The Hillary Brown murder was ruled justifiable homicide which spared King jail time. However, for the second murder, King wasn't so lucky. He had his charges reduced to voluntary manslaughter and Don had to serve four years in prison in 1968.
Leslie Hylton
Sport: Cricket
Year: 1954
Murder Charges: The murder of his wife.
Outcome: He was convicted of murder and hanged in Jamaica in 1955.
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
Sport: Boxing
Year: 1966
Murder Charges: The triple homicide of three white bar patrons.
Outcome: The Hurricane was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison in 1967. His conviction was overturned and he was released in 1985 by the federal court due to lack of evidence.
Esteban de Jesus
Sport: Boxing
Year: 1981
Murder Charges: The murder of a teenager during a road rage incident.
Outcome: Convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He was later pardoned shortly before his death from AIDS in 1989.
Robert Rozier
Sport: Football
Year: 1986
Murder Charges: First-degree murder of seven white people in order to join the black supremacist group, "The Brotherhood."
Outcome: Rozier pled guilty to the murder charges and agreed to testify against The Brotherhood in exchange for a 22-year sentence. He was released from prison in 1996 but was arrested again in 1999 for passing bad checks. He's currently serving a 25-to-life sentence.
Mark "Gator" Rogowski
Sport: Skateboarding
Year: 1991
Murder Charges: First degree-murder and rape of his ex-girlfriend's best friend, Jessica Bergstrom.
Outcome: Rogowski pleaded guilty to both the first-degree murder and rape charges. By pleading guilty he avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to 31 years in 1992.
OJ Simpson
Sport: Football
Year: 1994
Murder Charges: First-degree murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
Outcome: Found not guilty of all charges but was later found to be responsible for the wrongful death of Ron Goldman in a 1997 civil trial.
Darryl Henley
Sport: Football
Year: 1995
Murder Charges: The attempted murder the judge of his cocaine trial.
Outcome: In 1996, Henley was convicted of 41 years for drug trafficking and hiring contract killers to off the judge presiding over his trial.
Sally McNeil
Sport: Bodybuilding
Year: 1995
Murder Charges: Second degree-murder for the slaying of her husband, Ray McNeil on Valentine's Day 1995.
Outcome: Despite her claim of suffering from years of domestic abuse, Sally was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 19 years-to-life in 1996.
Bertil Fox
Sport: Bodybuilding
Year: 1997
Murder Charges: Double-murder of his ex-fiancee and her mother on the island of Saint Kitts.
Outcome: Fox was sentenced to death by hanging for the murders. In 2002, his death sentence was ruled unconstitutional and was changed to a life sentence.
Terry Underwood
Sport: Football
Year: 1998
Murder Charges: The stabbing murder (88 times) of his pregnant wife, Theresa Underwood.
Outcome: In 1998, Terry Underwood was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years.
Rae Carruth
Sport: Football
Year: 1999
Murder Charges: First-degree murder and the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of his girlfriend and their unborn child. Also, using a weapon to attempt to kill a fetus.
Outcome: Found not guilty of first-degree murder, but was convicted of the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and using a weapon to attempt to kill a fetus. Sentenced to 18-24 years.
Ray Lewis
Sport: Football
Year: 2000
Murder Charges: First-degree murder for his role in the deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar that occured during a fight following a Super Bowl XXXIV afterparty.
Outcome: The first-degree murder charge was dropped after Lewis agreed to testify against two of his friends, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, who were also present at the time of the fatal brawl. Lewis pled guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to one-year probation.
Tommy Kane
Sport: Football
Year: 2003
Murder Charges: The second-degree murder of his wife, Tammara Shaikh.
Outcome: Kane pled guilty to manslaughter, reducing his second-degree murder charge. But the judge wasn't having it and sentenced Tommy Kane to 18 years in prison in 2004.
Evangelos Goussis
Sport: Martial Arts
Year: 2004
Murder Charges: The murder of Lewis Caine and Lewis Moran.
Outcome: The former kickboxing champion was sentenced to life in prison with a 30-to-life parole period. Goussis became a professional hitman after his fighting career and was the first convicted in the Melbourne Gangland Murders that lasted between 1998 to 2010.
Mike Danton
Sport: Hockey
Year: 2004
Murder Charges: Conspiracy to murder his agent, David Frost.
Outcome: In 2004, Mike Danton was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years. His lawyer, Howard Kieffer, never graduated from law school and was charged with two felonies. Kieffer was senteced to nine years in prison.
Barrett Robbins
Sport: Football
Year: 2005
Murder Charges: Attempted murder.
Outcome: Robbins pled guilty to attempted murder and was given five years probation. The law was lenient because Barrett suffered from bipolar disorder.
Clifford Etienne
Sport: Boxing
Year: 2005
Murder Charges: The attempted murder of a police officer.
Outcome: Convicted of the attempted murder of a police officer, armed robbery, and kidnapping. Etienne was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Ugueth Urbina
Sport: Baseball
Year: 2005
Murder Charges: Attempted Murder of five farm workers on his Venezuela farm.
Outcome: Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but was recently released on Dec. 24, 2012 after serving five years.
Warrington Phillip
Sport: Cricket
Year: 2006
Murder Charges: The murder of his wife.
Outcome: Phillip was found guillty and sentenced to life in prison.
Gavin Grant
Sport: Soccer
Year: 2005 and 2010
Murder Charges: Convicted of killing Jahmall Moore in 2005 and the 2004 execution-style murder of Leon Labastide in 2010.
Outcome: Grant was cleared of the 2005 killing of Jahmall Moore in 2007. But in 2010, he was sentenced to life in prison, with a 25-to-life minimum before he can be paroled for the Labastide slaying.
Eric Naposki
Sport: Football
Year: 2009
Murder Charges: First-degree murder of Bill McLaughlin in a plot to collect life insurance.
Outcome: Found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibilty of parole.
Bruno Fernandes de Souza
Sport: Soccer
Year: 2010
Murder Charges: The murder of his ex-girlfriend, Eliza Samudio.
Outcome: Souza is still awaiting trial but his cousin told the authorities that the Brazilian goalkeeper had Samudio's body dismembered and fed to dogs.
Edwin Valero
Sport: Boxing
Year: 2010
Murder Charges: The murder of his wife, Carolina Valero.
Outcome: The day after he was taken into custody, Valero was found hanging in his jail cell.