Lawrence Lamond Phillips

Lawrence Lamond Phillips (May 12, 1975 – January 13, 2016) was a professional American football and Canadian football running back. A two-time college football national champion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Phillips played in the National Football League for the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 4 years from 1996 through 1999, and for the Montreal Alouettes and Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2002 and 2003.

Imprisoned former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips killed himself while he was awaiting a trial that could have brought him the death penalty. The Kern County coroner's office released no other details.

Phillips, 40, was found unresponsive at Kern Valley State Prison and died at a hospital early Wednesday.

He had been housed alone since April after he was suspected of killing his cellmate, Damion Soward, 37, the cousin of former University of Southern California and NFL wide receiver R. Jay Soward.

His attorney, Jesse Whitten, said his client seemed upbeat a day before his death even though a judge ordered him to face trial on a charge of first-degree murder. A conviction could have led to the death penalty, but prosecutors said no decision on that had been made.

The death will be reviewed by the federal official who controls the prison medical system, along with federal officials and lawyers involved in a long-running lawsuit over the care of mentally ill inmates.

Phillips was sentenced to more than 31 years in prison in 2008 after he was convicted of twice choking his girlfriend in 2005 in San Diego and of driving his car into three teens later that year after a pickup football game in Los Angeles.