Lewis Agrees to Plead Guilty

Baltimore Raven running back Jamal Lewis has agreed to plead guilty in his federal drug conspiracy case, an aide to the presiding judge said Tuesday.

Lewis is scheduled to enter his plea Thursday in federal court in Atlanta, said Vicki Hanna, the courtroom deputy for U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans.

“A guilty plea on Mr. Lewis,” Hanna said. “That’s what’s scheduled. Correct.”

Hanna would not release details about Lewis’ plea, including what charge he would admit to.

A source familiar with the plea negotiations told Associated Press last weekend that lawyers for Lewis have been negotiating a deal that would allow him to serve jail time in the off-season.

Under the deal being considered, Lewis would plead guilty to using a cell phone in violation of federal law. He would serve four months in a minimum-security prison and two months in a halfway house, the source said.

Any deal must be approved by Evans. The source said defense lawyers and prosecutors have an agreement in principle on the terms of the deal, but stressed that Lewis must sign off on it, which likely would not happen until Thursday.

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Ricky Williams has asked the NFL for a hearing to clarify his playing status, a possible first step if the running back tried to return to the league.

His request was confirmed by a source within the league, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Miami Dolphin running back announced his retirement just before training camp. He subsequently was ordered by an arbitrator to repay more than $8.6 million to the team for breaching his contract.

The source said no date had been scheduled for the hearing.

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Minnesota Viking running back Onterrio Smith will sit out the team’s next four games as he serves a suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Smith filled in for the injured Michael Bennett during the Vikings’ first three games, rushing for 198 yards and leading the team with 223 receiving yards.

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Cincinnati Bengal defensive end Justin Smith was arrested early Tuesday and charged with drunken driving after he failed a breath test, the Montgomery County (Ohio) sheriff’s department said.

Smith, 25, was stopped because his truck was weaving. He told police he had five beers, the arrest report said, and he swayed while trying to walk during a field sobriety test.

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Tennessee receiver Tyrone Calico, who sat out the first three games after tearing cartilage in his left knee during the exhibition season, will sit out at least two to three more weeks because of torn cartilage in the same knee.

Coach Jeff Fisher said that Calico would get another doctor’s opinion and that he could be out as many as 10 weeks or more if there’s more damage.

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Pittsburgh linebacker Kendrell Bell, who has sat out the Steelers’ first four games, will sit out at least the next two games because of a sports hernia.

Bell returned to practice last week after having made what Coach Bill Cowher called “significant progress.” But Bell awoke the next day with more pain in his groin and was scratched from last Sunday’s game against Cincinnati.

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Former receiver Mark Ingram was accused of laundering drug money, dealing in stolen cars and cashing counterfeit checks, the latest legal trouble for a player who helped the New York Giants win the 1991 Super Bowl.

In a federal indictment made public in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., authorities say Ingram cashed more than $300,000 in phony checks and laundered another $200,000.

The indictment accuses Ingram, 39, of conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering, charges that could send him to federal prison for up to 30 years.

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Norm Schachter, a former NFL referee who worked the first Super Bowl and the first Monday night game, died of natural causes Saturday at a convalescent home in San Pedro, according to his son. He was 90.