Despite his accomplishments on the field, Lewis' public image was tarnished following a Super Bowl party on 31 January 2000,
when he was arrested (along with his friends Reginald Oakley and Joseph
Sweeting) for the murders of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. Baker
and Lollar were stabbed and killed outside a nightclub during a fight
in the Buckhead district of Atlanta.
To have murder charges dismissed, Lewis pled guilty in a bargain to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice [1],
and agreed to testify against Oakley and Sweeting, who were each
charged with murder. Oakley and Sweeting went on to hire the very high
priced legal representation of noted Atlanta criminal defense
attorneys, L. David Wolfe, Bruce Harvey, and Steve Sadow. Though all
were acquitted in June 2000, the Atlanta Police Department and District
Attorney's office believe Lewis' associaties to be guilty. No other
suspects have ever been arrested for the crime.
On 29 April 2004,
Lewis reached a settlement with four-year-old India Lollar, who was
born shortly after the death of her father Richard. The settlement
(reported by The Baltimore Sun
to be at least US$1 million) pre-empted the civil trial scheduled for
14 June from going forth. The suit filed by the Baker family was also
settled. The terms were undisclosed.