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ATLANTA -- Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was sentenced to four months in prison Wednesday for using a cell phone to try to set up a drug deal about 4½ years ago.
The sentence issued in federal court was what Lewis expected under an agreement reached with prosecutors in October.
Lewis, who tried to set up the deal a few months after he was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft, also will spend two months in a halfway house and perform 500 hours of community service following his prison term.
Prosecutors agreed to drop more serious drug conspiracy and attempted cocaine possession charges.
"I'm truly sorry for what I did," Lewis said to U.S. District Judge Orinda Evans.
Explaining the short sentence, the judge said the government didn't have a strong case and noted the only witness against Lewis was an informant with a lengthy criminal record.
Evans said she was also giving Lewis "credit for stepping up to the bar" and admitting his guilt.
The football player has until Feb. 4 to surrender to allow him time to have a cast removed from his right ankle, the judge said. Lewis recently had surgery on the foot. Evans said she will recommend that Lewis serve his incarceration at a federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. The community confinement will be served at a halfway house in Atlanta.
The sentence issued in federal court was what Lewis expected under an agreement reached with prosecutors in October.
Lewis, who tried to set up the deal a few months after he was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft, also will spend two months in a halfway house and perform 500 hours of community service following his prison term.
Prosecutors agreed to drop more serious drug conspiracy and attempted cocaine possession charges.
"I'm truly sorry for what I did," Lewis said to U.S. District Judge Orinda Evans.
Explaining the short sentence, the judge said the government didn't have a strong case and noted the only witness against Lewis was an informant with a lengthy criminal record.
Evans said she was also giving Lewis "credit for stepping up to the bar" and admitting his guilt.
The football player has until Feb. 4 to surrender to allow him time to have a cast removed from his right ankle, the judge said. Lewis recently had surgery on the foot. Evans said she will recommend that Lewis serve his incarceration at a federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. The community confinement will be served at a halfway house in Atlanta.
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