Josh Peter

USA TODAY Sports

Lawrence Phillips, the former football star facing murder charges, was found unresponsive early Wednesday at Kern Valley State Prison and rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton told USA TODAY Sports.

The death is being investigated as a suspected suicide, according to press release from the department.

Phillips, 40, was facing the possible death penalty in the alleged murder of his former cellmate at Kern Valley State Prison. At a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, a Superior Court judge ruled there was "sufficient cause to believe'' Phillips committed murder, according to court records, which cleared the way for a trial that could have ended with Phillips getting the death penalty.

Lawrence Phillips hinted at murder a month before cellmate found dead

Jesse Whitten, the attorney who was representing Phillips, said the outcome of the hearing was no surprise and Phillips thought he would prevail.



“There was nothing about his demeanor that made me think he was suicidal at all, or depressed,’’ Whitten told USA TODAY Sports. “He was very confident about winning this case and he was even optimistic about his appeal on his prior cases.’’

Phillips was allowed to wear civilian clothes to the hearing rather than the prison-issued orange jumpsuit. “He was like a kid on Christmas morning,'' Whitten said. "We got his court clothes. He picked them out. They fit really great, so he was really happy.’



“He started the hearing by telling me, ‘Hey, relax, man. I’m going to be held to answer (for the murder charges). It’s just a formality.’ "

But by the end of the day, Whitten said, Phillips had grown frustrated. “I do think it was hard for him to sit there and listen to people accuse him of this stuff,'' he said.

Tony Zane, who coached Phillips at Baldwin Park High School in Southern California, said he received a letter from Phillips about a month ago and there was no indication Phillips was suicidal.

"It had nothing indicating anything like this,'' Zane told USA TODAY Sports. "He was talking about the fact that his mom had gotten him an attorney.''

Phillips' former cellmate, Damion Soward, was found unresponsive April 11 in the cell the men shared and died as a result of strangulation, according to a coroner’s report. What was believed to be blood was found on Soward, Phillips’ white T-shirt and several other items, including pill bottles, a folder and a bag, according to the incident report.

The terrifying prison letters from ex-Nebraska star Lawrence Phillips

Prison officials immediately identified Phillips as a suspect and the Kern County district attorney’s office launched an investigation. Criminal charges were filed Sept. 1.

The month before his cellmate’s death, Phillips wrote a letter to his mother saying he thought his anger might lead to his death or someone else's death.

"I feel myself very close to snapping,'' Phillips wrote in a letter dated March 5, 2015. "My anger grows daily as I have become fed up with prison. I feel my anger is near bursting and that will result in my death or the death of someone else.''

Phillips was the star running back on the University of Nebraska’s national championship teams in 1994 and 1995, and a first-round pick, sixth overall, in the 1996 NFL draft. He played for three seasons with the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers. In 2009, he was sentenced to 31 years in prison for two separate incidents — driving his car into three teenagers and assaulting an ex-girlfriend.

PHOTOS: Lawrence Phillips through the years