His lawyer wanted an investigation regarding whether former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips was killed in prison. A coroner has determined that Phillips killed himself.
Via USA Today, Phillips hanged himself from a television shelf with a bed sheet. A note that said “do not resuscitate” was attached to his chest.
But questions still linger. The report says that police also found in Phillips’ left sock a photo of Phillips with a child and a note. The report says nothing about the contents of the note.
Previously, attorney Dan Chamberlain pointed to the note from the left sock as evidence that Phillips may have been murdered, based on a claim that the handwriting on the note didn’t belong to Phillips and the actual message on the note, which said something along the lines of, “Did you hear the one about the X-football player who hung himself from the TV mount in his cell?”
The article from Josh Peter of USA Today mentions that the report fails to disclose the message on the note found in Phillips’ sock, but the article doesn’t point out the contention from Chamberlain that the note contained information suggesting that the death may not have been suicide — even though the article that first made public the allegations of foul play was also written by Josh Peter, along with A.J. Perez.
At a minimum, it would seem reasonable for Peter to try to reconcile two articles that: (1) carry his name; and (2) send vastly conflicting messages, especially since the second article expressly states that the report calling the death a suicide doesn’t say what was written on the note that was the centerpiece of the suggestion that Phillips possibly didn’t kill himself.