yeah hey Chelsea on January the 30th of the year 2000 the Super Bowl came here to Atlanta and the Georgia Dome for that whole weekend and the days after the whole city was like one big huge block party when the same when the sun came up Monday morning on January 31st the day after the Super Bowl not only were their new Super Bowl champions but two men were also left laying in the middle of the road deceased as law enforcement tried to put all the pieces together a super popular and beloved football star he was put on trial for their death today I'm going to be heading over to Buckhead which I guess you can say is a more wealthier Park of Atlanta and today I'm talking about the massively popular football star Ray Lewis and his highly publicized double homicide trial in 2000. we will be going to the spot where it all went down so that I can tell the story and we're going to talk about the trial and the details of the double homicide that still follows Ray Lewis around to this day just a an absolutely incredible view there behind me of Atlanta fresh off the heels of the 1996 Olympic Games here in Atlanta after the bombing by Eric Rudolph and all that happened with Richard Jewell and all that it was announced that Atlanta would be the host City for Super Bowl 34 following the 1999 football season now if you want to know more about the Atlanta 96 bombing and all of that I have covered it before and I will link it up here if you want to go back and watch it I'll also put it at the end of the video if you want to watch this first and come back as 1999 crept up closer to football season the world became paranoid because computer experts feared that all of the computers in the world would crash on New Year's Day as their internal clocks rolled over from 1999 to 2000. since the beginning of time people have been predicting its end and now it seems the doomsayers have a date to work towards a simple glitch is threatening a new age of chaos the second the world's computers click over to the year 2000. it was called Y2K it was at the Forefront of just about everyone's thoughts as we got into football season towards the end of the year it seems unbelievable but it's only 535 days from now at the stroke of midnight when we will usher in a new year a new century a new millennium it is fitting if more than a little ironic that this same stroke of midnight will pose a sharp and Signal test of whether we have prepared ourselves for the challenges to address the watch 2K computer problem obviously New Year's Day January 1st 2000 it came and it went and nothing happened because we're still all here today the clocks rolled over and people celebrated that the world did not come Crashing Down all of that wide spread Hysteria all of that Panic it had all been for nothing after the celebration is wrapped up for the world not coming to an end it was time to go back and focus on football and the upcoming playoffs and Super Bowl in a way the NFL playoffs in the Super Bowl after this Y2K thing they were bigger than ever before because people weren't as focused on football in late 1999 because they were worried about the end of the world and when the Y2K bug never happened people were looking for something to to move to they moved from Y2K and and it was time for the NFL postseason because of this the 2000 Super Bowl Super Bowl 34 was it was set to be the biggest of all time knowing this the city of Atlanta they didn't hesitate to capitalize on the momentum all over Atlanta in the days prior to Super Bowl Sunday events were held all over the city there was concerts football player meet and greets and autograph signings there were parties going on all over the place and every nightclub in the vicinity of Atlanta was packed and booming every night of the week one football player who partook in these events that weekend was a fan favorite from the Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis had an amazing year leading the country with 165 tackles three and a half sacks and three interceptions throughout 1999. the downfall was that their offense just wasn't super great that year so the Ravens only went eight for eight in 1999 eight wins and eight losses despite Ray Lewis having the the great year that he had on defense nevertheless they did not make it into the Super Bowl so Ray Lewis was just able to come here to Atlanta on his own and he can make some extra money at meet and greets and autograph signings which we'll come up again later in the story The autographed signings part but most importantly he could show off and he could party in all of the nightlife festivities that were going on across the city on January the 30th Super Bowl Sunday it was the St Louis Rams versus the Tennessee Titans that game was dubbed the.com Super Bowl because after Y2K didn't happen the the internet was still alive computers were still alive .com websites they made up the majority of all of those high-priced advertisements that were being aired during that Super Bowl game the halftime show it featured a massive collaboration between Phil Collins Christine Aguilera Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton and it didn't disappoint all together Super Bowl 34 it was the biggest and most watched spectacle of its time by the time the game ended the St Louis Rams were Super Bowl champions and the parties and celebrations began all over the city the high energy atmosphere that had engulfed Atlanta in the days prior it had carried over into after the game as well all out into the streets of downtown Atlanta and into the nightlife right now I'm heading into the Buckhead District of Atlanta and as I said in the intro and as you can see from these massive homes Buckhead seems to be a more wealthy part of the city and here in Buckhead this is where all of the movie stars and and musicians singers and professional athletes this is where all the people who make millions of dollars this is where they come to live and to party one popular nightclub where athletes and a lot of rappers would hang out a lot it used to be right here in front of us on the corner across the street there in the shop that says tend up there on the top of it in 1999 and 2000 it was a nightclub that was called the Cobalt lounge and it looked a lot different than it does now the high-rise condos wasn't behind it then it was just a row of different sized buildings with the Cobalt Lounge all the way on the far right side of the series of buildings painted in a very standout color of purple after Super Bowl 34 ended the Cobalt Lounge came to life at some point in the evening everyone's attention was directed towards the front door as Baltimore Raven Star Ray Lewis and his Entourage made their entrance he was decked out in a cream-colored suit now I'm going to bring this outfit up again later in the story so remember this cream color suit of his it's going to come up again at some point several hours after they had been in the Cobalt Lounge a fight broke out inside of the building now prior to the fight Lewis and his crew they were just sitting at a table and they were drinking champagne people were dancing and everyone was laughing and talking so it was super super loud in the building and then all of a sudden a fight broke out people noticed a commotion and a crowd starts Gathering the fight started when Ray Lewis's friend started arguing with two other men inside of the club Jackie Baker and Richard Lawler at some point a champagne bottle was broken over someone's head and that's when an all-out fight started between Baker and lower and then Lewis's friends Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweden after a few moments the four fighting men made their way outside into the the front of the nightclub out into the street as the fight came outside so did all the patrons of the Cobalt Lounge because they all wanted to watch and see what was going on all of a sudden though in a split second the fight was over and Ray Lewis original Oakley and Joseph Sweden they all hopped into Lewis's limousine and they sped away from the Cobalt Lounge as the crowd watches them drive off and then they look back at the other two men Baker and Lawler the crowd noticed that they were laying out in the middle of the road and they weren't moving anymore both men had been stabbed in their heart and they bled out very quickly and they were laying out in the middle of the road here deceased now obviously the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and the Atlanta police department they came here to investigate all the witnesses knew exactly who Ray Lewis was and so they were able to point out him and his crew and very quickly Ray Lewis Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweden they all rushed to the top of the suspect's list in this double homicide within a few days of the murders law enforcement tracked down all three men and questioned them both Oakley and Sweden admitted to being involved in the fight but not the murders and then Ray Lewis denied having anything to do with it at all he said he was in the limousine when that part of it went down detectives they took DNA samples from all three men they got their fingerprints they searched the limousine and they searched all the men's homes throughout all of this investigating law enforcement they found blood inside of the limousine that matched both of the victims and really not much else none of the three men's clothes were recovered not even raise expensive cream-colored suit they did find one witness who claimed that they saw Ray Lewis throw a like laundry bag and it looked like it had blood on it away any dumpster outside of a hotel but when law enforcement went there and searched that dumpster and then they went to the dump and searched they never found anything law enforcement they kind of hit a dead end because the the murder weapons the knives that were used to kill the two men they were left at the scene but they didn't have any DNA or any fingerprints on them so besides the blood found in the limo and the murder weapons that didn't have any fingerprints or DNA on them they also found a few Witnesses who wrote out statements naming Lewis and Oakley and Sweden other than that though law enforcement had no other evidence connecting anyone to these two murders despite this lack of evidence 11 days after the murders on February the 10th of 2000 all three men were officially indicted on two counts of first degree murder all three men were arrested and held in the Fulton County Jail the news and the sports media immediately threw Ray Lewis under the bus they had a field day with this story and they essentially convicted Ray Lewis in the court of public opinion without having any evidence at all or really any knowledge of what happened everyone just heard that Ray Lewis was involved so the media convicted him for it fast forward to June of 2000 just six months after the murders Ray Lewis has highly anticipated double homicide trial would get underway here in Atlanta and it wasn't just Ray Lewis it was all three men they were all on trial together Ray Lewis's attorneys brought in a handful of witnesses including the limousine driver that all said that Ray Lewis was not involved he would he was not out there when the two men were killed and then on the other side of that the the prosecution only had one witness who said that they thought they saw Ray Lewis involved in it halfway through the trial it became very apparent to everyone that was in attendance that the state really didn't have any solid evidence linking anyone so all of the sudden one day right in the middle of this trial now out of fear that the the state would not be able to convict anyone they came into the courtroom one morning and they told the judge that the state and Ray Lewis had reached a deal a plea deal and upon of Ray Lewis's official acceptance of this plea deal in open court they the state would be dismissing the murder charges against Ray Lewis and Ray Lewis only now not not oakley and Sweden so as the state comes to the realization that they have no case and no evidence they go to Rey and his attorneys after court the evening prior and they offer to drop all of raise charges except for one lonely count of us of obstruction of justice obstruction of justice in exchange for him testifying against the other two men Oakley and Sweden so they tell him that they know that he didn't physically stab anyone that he was just there and they appealed to him by telling him this way he can still play football so the very next morning they informed the judge of this blue deal and and Ray Lewis stands up and he agrees to it in open court now the other two guys they're still on trial here for these murders so even though Ray was officially taken off of the case the trial continued because these other two men were still on trial for it so more witnesses were called that day and the trial continued on like normal now neither of the two men argued that this didn't happen they just argued that it was self-defense so the court adjourns for the night and they come back the next morning and that very next morning Ray Lewis took the stand to testify as part of his plea deal for the first time in this whole six-month ordeal with these with this double homicide Ray Lewis finally gave his version of events now Ray got on the stand and he said that he was in the limo he never saw anyone get stabbed but he did tell the jury that the day before the Super Bowl the three men were at a Sports Authority here in Atlanta Ray was signing autographs and he was having meet and greets and he was making money which we talked about earlier in the story and that's customary on Super Bowl weekend for for athletes and and celebrities who aren't involved with it to to do this so they can so they can make some money off of Super Bowl weekend Ray testified though that once the signing was over that Oakley and Sweden picked out the knives that were used in the murders from the Sports Authority they were bought at that Sports Authority using Ray Lewis's credit card now this was pretty damning evidence that put the murder weapons in the hands of Oakley and Sweden Ray also told the court that after everyone got into the limo and they sped off that it was him who informed everyone to not say anything about this don't tell anyone don't say nothing do not do not deny so after Ray Lewis's testimony was over he had kept up his into the the plea deal so he was sentenced for his obstruction of justice charge to time-served plus 12 months of Probation and he was set free again though this double murder trial kept going because both Oakley and Sweden were still on trial for murder and after both sides finished and closed their cases and gave their closing arguments the jury deliberated for just five and a half hours before they came back with a verdict that would shock the world Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweden were found not guilty in self-defense they said that the state virtually had no evidence that Oakley and Sweden actually stabbed Jackie Baker and Richard Lawler in a manner other than self-defense they were acquitted now I believe the general consensus out there is that Ray Lewis did not have anything to do with the murders despite him being the only one who was convicted of any crime here and the only one who like served any time in this case it was probation as I said earlier the media crushed Ray Lewis prior to this like through the six-month time period between the murders and the trial the media absolutely crushed him and after the trial was over the media didn't come back out and say we were wrong or anything like that so because of all of that this still follows Ray Lewis around to this day people call him a murderer and all kind of crazy stuff but despite this negative publicity Ray was able to continue playing football for the Baltimore Ravens he would go on to become one of the greatest linebackers that the world has ever seen racking up more than 2 000 tackles in his career 31 interceptions and numerous Awards Ray Lewis got more Awards by himself than some whole teams get all together in 2018 Ray Lewis would go on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and when this happened all of this immediately came back up people fought and they argued over him entering the Hall of Fame they protested and they asked how can a murderer be put into the Hall of Fame despite him never being convicted of murder somehow some way Ray Lewis's resilience perseveres and he manages to get past all the new Sayers and all the people who call him names and the people who doubt him now we'll never know who actually started the argument that night that led to the deaths of Jackie Baker and Richard Lawler were they murdered or did Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweden kill them in self-defense we will probably never know Ray Lewis credits this event for straightening him up and causing him to focus on his football which in turn caused him to put up the numbers that he did to make him one of the greatest of all time earning him his spot in the Hall of Fame like but because the media you know hit him so hard right after it happened there's still plenty of people out there today that believe that Ray Lewis murdered two people [Music] [Applause] murderer tell me if you killed me [Applause] oh that is going to do it for this story today here in Atlanta in Buckhead I want to thank you all so much for watching I really appreciate it if you're new here go down hit that subscribe button then hit that notification Bell so you get notified every time I upload a video I've got a great series of videos coming up next a lot of crazy crime cases that are uh intriguing so make sure you come back and check that out if you're one of those that's wanted to help support the channel there's links in the description box below you can check out that's appreciated but you guys watching and hitting the thumbs up on my videos that means more to me than anything else I'll see you guys all again in the next one please all of you stay safe and stay healthy much love to you all [Music] [Applause] [Music]