Jury Acquits Lewis’ Friends of Murder and Assault

After pleading guilty to a reduced charge and testifying against two friends charged with murder, Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis turned out to be the only person convicted.

An Atlanta jury deliberated less than five hours Monday before acquitting Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley of murder and assault in the post-Super Bowl stabbing deaths of two people.

The two were co-defendants with Lewis, who spent Monday at a Ravens’ mini-camp after testifying against the two last week and drawing a year of probation on a charge of obstruction of justice.

Oakley hugged his attorney, Bruce Harvey, who exuberantly pumped his fist when the verdicts were announced. Sweeting put his head on the defense table.

Sweeting, Oakley and Lewis were charged with murder, felony murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 31 stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar.

“We are deeply, deeply disappointed in the verdict,” District Attorney Paul Howard said. “We thought that we had presented . . . substantial evidence that we thought should have resulted in a verdict of guilty for these defendants.”

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Four men and two women were chosen in Tallahassee, Fla., to hear bribery charges against All-American kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who could face deportation if convicted.

Janikowski, a Polish native and the first-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders, is accused of offering a Tallahassee police officer $300 outside a nightclub to release his roommate, who had been arrested after a dispute with a bouncer.

Tennis

With a wretched clay-court season behind him, Greg Rusedski moved into the second round of the Queens Club grass-court tuneup for Wimbledon by beating Wayne Ferreira, 7-5, 6-4, in London.

Vince Spadea’s misery continued in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss to Justin Gimelstob. It was Spadea’s 20th consecutive loss, which tied a record for futility set by Gary Donnelly in 1986.

In other key matches, 10th-seeded Todd Martin beat Paradorn Srichaphan, 7-6 (4), 6-3; and Arvind Palmar set up a meeting with Pete Sampras by defeating Scott Draper, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-0.

Top-seeded Andre Agassi, playing Queens Club for the first time, has a first-round bye.

Mirjana Lucic, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, ended the match in two double-faults in losing, 7-6, 6-0, to Lilia Osterloh in the first round of the DFS Classic at Birmingham, England.

Osterloh lost in the first round at Wimbledon last year.

Sixth-seeded Tommy Haas was upset by qualifier Ivan Ljubicic, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, at the Gerry Weber Open, a Wimbledon tuneup at Halle, Germany.

Richard Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon winner, and Michael Chang also advanced. Krajicek slammed 32 aces but had to struggle to beat Jeff Tarango, 6-7 (11), 6-4, 6-4. Chang slipped past Mikael Tillstrom, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Top-seeded Anna Smashnova lost to Franceska Shiavone, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; and sixth-seeded Marlene Weingartner lost to Tatyana Poutchek, 6-1, 6-4, in the Tashkent Open at Uzbekistan.

College Basketball

Louisville’s Denny Crum said a prominent booster at the University of Miami called him about the school’s coaching vacancy, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

Crum, the Hall of Fame coach who guided Louisville to two national championships, told the newspaper he was flattered at being approached as a possible successor to Leonard Hamilton.

“One of their prominent boosters called me,” Crum said. “He said the job’s mine if I want it. I haven’t had much time to think about it, but I take the offer seriously.”

Neither Tom Jurich, Louisville’s athletic director, nor Miami sports officials could be reached for comment.

Rick Boyages, an assistant at Ohio State the last three years, was hired as coach at William & Mary, replacing Charlie Woollum, who retired.

Miscellany

Minnesota Vikings’ wide receiver Randy Moss was kicked off an airplane after a confrontation with a flight attendant over the storage of carry-on luggage.

The Pittsburgh-bound US Airways flight had taxied across the tarmac but returned to the gate at Charleston, W.Va. to have Moss removed. The matter was turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI.

The confrontation “was all verbal,” said assistant airport director Dave Sweeney.

After a two-year return to the Ohio Valley Conference, Western Kentucky’s football team will leave the league after the 2000 season. The school said it’s seeking membership in the Gateway Football Conference.

Don Smith of Buffalo earned the final spot on the U.S. Olympic rowing team at Camden, N.J., by winning the best-of-three final of the men’s single sculls on the Cooper River.

A memorial service for former UCLA baseball coach Art Reichlewill be held Saturday at noon at King’s Place, the main sanctuary of the west campus of The Church On the Way at 14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys. Reichle died at 86 on May 23 in Melbourne, Fla. . . . Jack Tidball, who won UCLA’s first NCAA championship in any sport when he won the NCAA singles tennis title in 1933, died last Thursday of pneumonia at Burbank. He was 88.