Ray Lewis: Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend cost him a job in Baltimore (with racist tweet)

Ray Lewis has added an interesting new twist to the ongoing question of why Colin Kaepernick isn’t playing for the Baltimore Ravens right now. In Lewis’s words, Kaepernick’s girlfriend is the problem.

Speaking on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” Lewis discussed conversations he and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti had regarding Kaepernick. “We were talking about giving this kid an opportunity to get back in the National Football League,” Lewis said. “I have been fighting for this kid behind the table like nobody has … I’ve never been against Colin Kaepernick. But I am against the way he’s done it.”

Bisciotti said at the time that he was seeking prayers from fans, asking for their guidance in whether to sign the quarterback who’s drawn far more notoriety for his stance against the national anthem than anything he ever did on a football field. Why an NFL owner would need to run a personnel decision by his fanbase is unclear, unless he was seeking justification for whatever direction he’d already wished to take. Given the fact that Kaepernick rouses emotions far beyond his skills, Bisciotti could find any justification he wished in order to sign, or avoid signing, Kaepernick.

And, as Lewis tells it, the Ravens found that justification courtesy of Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab. According to Lewis, the Ravens were juuuuuust about to sign Kaepernick, but:

Re: The Ray Lewis murder case

Both of Lewis’ co-defendants — Oakley, 31, of Baltimore and Sweeting, 34, of Miami — have criminal records. Each of the victims, and some of their companions who will likely testify, had their own run-ins with the law.

As the two groups fought, Oakley rushed Baker, prosecutors say. Baker broke a champagne bottle over Oakley’s head - opening a bloody gash. Baker and Lollar ran, and Lewis and members of his party chased them down and killed them, using pocketknives purchased a few days earlier at an autograph-signing event Lewis held at an Atlanta-area sporting goods store, prosecutors say.

But Oakley claims that he and his friends jumped out of Lewis’ limousine and confronted Baker when someone inside shouted: “He’s got a gun.” Baker then hit Oakley over the head with the bottle hard enough to send him to the pavement and dislodge the knife he was holding — which he never used, he says.

Oakley’s lawyer has suggested that other members of the Lewis party, who have not been charged, may have been involved in the fight.

Sweeting says it was Lollar who had the gun, and his lawyer has hinted in pretrial filings that he may present a self-defense claim - perhaps that Sweeting stabbed the man because he pulled a gun on him.

Prosecutors say Oakley beat and stabbed his assailant, Baker, a slightly built art student, even though he was in full retreat. Oakley caught up with him, lifted him off the ground and slammed him to the pavement, they say. Sweeting and Lewis chased down, beat and stabbed Lollar, a barber and boxing enthusiast, prosecutors allege.

Lewis need not have handled the knife to be found guilty; under “felony murder” statutes in Georgia and most other states, he can be convicted for participating in a felony during which a companion kills the victim.

If prosecutors can’t prove Lewis stabbed one of the victims, they must show he engaged in an aggravated assault - perhaps using a knife or other weapon — or actively encouraged Oakley and Sweeting to kill the men, Summer said. “If he hit these guys, that is not a felony,” he said.

In some states, a person threatened with a weapon is required to flee or neutralize the offender without injury if possible. But not in Georgia.

This state observes a “stand your ground” rule that permits anyone to kill when accosted by an armed aggressor, Summer said.

That means Oakley could be legally justified in killing if Baker came at him with a broken bottle — a deadly weapon — and was not running away. Georgia law also permits a third party, such as Lewis, to use deadly force in defense of someone whose life is being threatened, Summer said.

Complicating the job for the jurors is the fact that the brawl raged up and down a sidewalk crowded with people pouring out of bars that had just closed. The limousine was parked mid-block, near a stubby tree. The victims were found 52 feet away, on the pavement in an intersection.

Witnesses have been identified who were in an apartment building overlooking the sidewalk or who were driving by and stopped to intervene. But few of them had an unobstructed view of the entire fight, except members of the victims’ and Lewis’ parties, whose testimony is contradictory and bound to be viewed skeptically by the jury.

The physical evidence is also confusing. Blood from one of the victims has been found in the limousine, including in an area where Lewis was sitting. But no blood was found on the football player’s clothing, a source said. And police have been unable to conclusively link a mink fiber found gripped by one of the dead men to fur coats worn by Lewis or others that morning.

No murder weapon has been recovered. A knife found at the scene had no trace of blood, and, because of the texture of its handle, produced no usable fingerprints.

Investigators have found witnesses and receipts indicating that Sweeting bought three knives — including one matching the make and model of the weapon found at the crime scene — while he was with Lewis and Oakley at a sporting goods store two days before the killings.

Still missing is the gun that someone used to fire five shots at the limousine A friend of the victims has come forward to say that he got the gun from a car and shot at the limousine as it pulled away, then later disposed of the weapon.

But Sweeting’s attorney has suggested in court filings that the gun was taken from Lollar’s body after he was killed. Shell casing found atop the bodies appear to support that theory.

Jurors are bound to wonder, too, why everyone fled the scene. Lewis’ group took off in the limousine; police caught up to it when they got a tip that the vehicle was a few miles away with a flat tire. But its passengers had all left in cabs by then.

The limousine driver, who remained behind, told police that he overheard someone in the back say, “I stabbed mine.”

He told prosecutors that he was warned by Lewis not to reveal who was in the vehicle.

“It’s going to be difficult for the state to present one picture, a still picture,” Froelich said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-lewistrial051500-story.html

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