Luke Dragged Into Double Murder Trial
HOT 104.com News Desk

"Luke's Freak Show: Cancun 1999," could play a peripheral role in the murder case against Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis. For prosecutors, it supports their contention Lewis was a friend with co-defendants Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley, the third man charged with murder. In his initial statement to police, Lewis denied knowing much of anything about the people he partied with after the Super Bowl. His lawyers filed a motion to have Lewis tried separately and have attempted to distance Lewis from his co-defendants.

The tape also could serve to refute defense lawyers' efforts to portray Lewis as a solid family man -- a recurring theme in the NFL linebacker's February bond hearing.

In the video, the party is kicking as Luther Campbell aka Luke tries to create the "ultimate freak party," a XXX-rated, booze-fueled sin fest inside the Coco Bongo nightclub in Cancun, Mexico.

Guys eagerly hand over $2,000 in cash to entice the ladies to get wild.

A handful of buxom, skimpily clad young women willingly perform sexual acts for the prize money.

"Ladies and gentlemen -- Ray Lewis," Campbell announces on the 1999 video.

Lewis enters Coco Bongo with. Rap music blares. Lights strobe. A shirtless Lewis dances between two women, all grinding hips in time with the music.

One of the women is soon seen engaging in sexual acts -- first with a woman, then with a man. The crowd of hundreds goes wild. Lewis and Sweeting don't participate in any sex acts. But they've got front row seats.

Campbell says he called Lewis to discuss his troubles between the time he was first questioned by police the morning of the killings and his arrest about 10 hours later. He says Lewis remains his favorite player. On Campbell's Web site, the rapper wears Lewis' No. 52 Ravens jersey while promoting videos and CDs.

''There's a respect there, man,'' says Campbell. "Of all the guys I know at [Miami] -- and I know them all, from Jerome Brown to Warren Sapp -- this man is the only one that ever said, 'Hey, man, I appreciate all the conversations you ever had with me. I want to bring you to Baltimore, put you up in a box and watch me play. I want to do something for you.' This is what kind of cat this is. That ain't no murderer."

Campbell recounts an incident the night before the Super Bowl outside Club 112, an Atlanta nightspot.

"We were walking up to the club -- me, him, [NFL offensive rookie of the year] Edgerrin James -- and people were running from the club," Campbell recalls. "The first thing Ray said was, 'Hey, man, if they're fighting at the front door we don't need to go up in there.' He said, 'I get paid to hit people on the field, I don't get paid to hit [people] off the field, so we need to keep going.'"

Campbell headed back to Miami soon after the Super Bowl, missing the partying that ended tragically outside the Cobalt lounge.