Lewis Sentenced in Drug Deal

Running back Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens was sentenced Wednesday to four months in prison for using a cellphone to try to set up a cocaine deal about 4 1/2 years ago.

The penalty, worked out with prosecutors in October, should allow Lewis to return to the Ravens well before the start of the 2005 season.

He also will spend two months in a halfway house and perform 500 hours of community service after his prison term.

Lewis pleaded guilty to trying to set up the drug deal a few months after the Ravens selected him No. 5 overall in the 2000 NFL draft. No drugs ever exchanged hands.

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 giving Lewis “credit for stepping up to the bar” and admitting his guilt.

Lewis has until Feb. 4 to surrender, to allow him time to have a cast removed from his surgically repaired right ankle.

Evans said she would recommend that Lewis serve his time at a federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala.