Crime: Ray Lewis' Assault Charges May Be Dropped
posted by HOT 104.com News Desk
Administration

Baltimore prosecutors are expected to drop assault charges against Ray Lewis today, saying they've had trouble contacting witnesses who would support the story of a woman who says the Baltimore Ravens star punched her in a bar, the attorney for the woman said Tuesday.

Dwight Pettit, the attorney for Catrice Parker, who brought the charges in December, said he provided at least five names of witnesses who backed his client's contentions. But it appears Lewis, who is charged with murder in the Jan. 31 stabbing deaths of two men in Atlanta, won the witness war in that case.

The Baltimore prosecutor in the case was out of his office Tuesday afternoon and not available for comment.

"The state's attorney's office said Mr. Lewis' attorneys furnished them with several statements that they found more credible than the (witnesses) we identified," said Pettit. "It didn't surprise me what happened here. People are reluctant to get involved in celebrity cases."

The move not to prosecute could help Lewis in the murder trial he faces May 15 in Fulton County. Prosecutors can bring up evidence to damage a defendant's "good character" if that is used in the defense.

Some witnesses in the Atlanta case also have been reluctant to come forward on behalf of the prosecution. A videotape operator named Keith Ponder, a witness to the fight that led to the stabbings, never notified authorities of what he saw but called Lewis' defense lawyers and even testified for him at the bond hearing. Lewis was freed on $1 million bond.

Prosecutors also gave immunity to a woman passenger in the limousine with Lewis before she would talk to them. At least four other passengers in the vehicle are seeking immunity deals before they speak. Attorneys for those potential witnesses say their clients fear they will be charged with a crime if they do not give statements helpful to the prosecution.

Lewis, 24, was indicted in the stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker, 21, and Richard Lollar, 24, both of Decatur. Two of Lewis' acquaintances, Reginald Oakley, 31, of Baltimore, and Joseph Sweeting, 34, of Miami, also were indicted on murder charges.