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Lawrence Phillips, 39, was a suspect in the killing of 37-year-old
Damion Soward, who was found unresponsive in the cell on Saturday
and died at a local hospital the next day, Kern Valley State Prison
spokesman Lieutenant Marshall Denning said in a statement.
Details on the incident were not provided immediately. Soward was
serving a sentence of 82 years to life for first-degree murder, the
statement said.
Phillips played for three NFL teams over four years in the 1990s,
ending his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1999.
The statement said Phillips entered Kern Valley State Prison in the
central California city of Delano in October 2008 and was serving a
sentence of 31 years and four months for inflicting great bodily
injury, corporal injury to spouse, false imprisonment and vehicle
theft.
Local media said at the time the charges stemmed from two instances
where he choked his girlfriend, including once where she lost
consciousness.
Phillips had also been convicted of driving his car into three
teenagers after a pickup football game in an unrelated case,
according to local media.
The statement said Phillips was placed in a separate unit pending
the outcome of the investigation. It said prison officials there
were also investigating a separate case involving another inmate
over the death of another cellmate.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Paul Tait)
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