10 Athletes Who Faced Serious Legal Trouble

From time to time, we see high-profile athletes getting into serious legal troubles that end up rocking the sporting world.  In 2025, we saw Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice face multiple felonies after a multi-car crash, and the NBA saw a head coach, Chauncey Billups, and player Terry Rozier named in a federal investigation regarding illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.  But there have been worse incidents over the decades, including some that  

transcended the games and made headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons.  Here are the top 10 most infamous arrests in American sports over the last 50 years. 

10. Plaxico Burress (NFL)  

This was a weird one as NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg at a New York nightclub with an unregistered firearm tucked into his waistband. He was arrested for gun possession and later sentenced to two years in prison. Burress’ career with the New York Giants effectively ended after the incident, but his case raised awareness about the dangers of gun ownership among athletes.

9. Adam “Pacman” Jones (NFL)

Adam “Pacman” Jones has a long history of legal troubles, including multiple arrests for disorderly conduct, assault, and public intoxication, both during and after his NFL career (2005-2019), leading to suspensions and significant civil liability, like a $11 million judgment from a 2007 Las Vegas nightclub incident, with recent arrests in 2024/2025 involving similar charges at sporting events and airports, highlighting a persistent pattern of off-field issues

8. Ray Lewis (NFL)

Ray Lewis was charged with murder in 2000 in connection with a double stabbing after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta, but the charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice, agreed to testify against his companions, and received a fine and probation. While his two co-defendants were later acquitted, Lewis became a Super Bowl champion and MVP the following season, though the incident and wrongful death lawsuits continued to follow him 

7.  Henry Ruggs (NFL)

Former NFL player Henry Ruggs III is in jail serving a 3-to-10-year sentence for a fatal drunk driving crash in Las Vegas in November 2021, where he drove over 150 mph with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, killing 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog. He pleaded guilty to felony DUI causing death and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and will be eligible for parole in August 2026.

6. Michael Vick (NFL)

Once one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, but in 2007, he was the center of a federal investigation into an illegal dogfighting ring operated on his property.  Vick pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 23 months in prison in December 2007. He also received a three-year suspended sentence for state dogfighting charges in 2008. Vick returned to the NFL and played for the Eagles, Jets, and  Steelers, and after his playing days, he became an advocate against dogfighting and spoke to youth about animal cruelty

5. Rae Carruth (NFL)  

The Rae Carruth murder case involved the 1999 plot by former Carolina Panthers player Rae Carruth to kill his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams, leading to her death and the premature birth of their son, Chancellor Lee Adams, who has cerebral palsy. Carruth, convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, was released from prison in 2018 after serving 18 years, while his accomplices, including gunman Van Brett Watkins, served time, and Chancellor now lives with his grandmother, Saundra Adams. 

4. Oscar Pistorius (Paralympian)

Oscar Pistorius, the famous South African Paralympian, shot and killed his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day 2013.  He claimed he mistook her for an intruder behind a locked bathroom door.  Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide but later found guilty of murder on appeal and served a sentence that eventually totaled 13 years.  He was released in 2024.   

3. Mike Tyson (Boxing)

Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet in the late 80s and early 90s.  But he was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992.  The incident took place in July 1991 as Tyson went back to his hotel room with Desiree Washington, an 18-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America pageant.  Tyson would be found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but would be released in March 1995. Decades later, Tyson maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.  Tyson’s boxing career would resume, but he suffered more losses after getting out of jail and before he went in.

2. Aaron Hernandez (NFL)

Aaron Hernandez was one of the best tight ends in the NFL, but his past caught up to him. In 2013, he was convicted of murdering his friend Odin Lloyd and received a life sentence.  He was later acquitted of a 2012 double murder.  His case gained global notoriety because he played in the NFL.  While in prison, he would die by suicide and was posthumously diagnosed with severe CTE.  His case became a major true-crime phenomenon, explored in multiple documentaries, including Netflix, which examined his sexuality, life of crime, and mental health struggles. 

1. O.J. Simpson (NFL)

By far the most infamous murder trial in American history, decades later, and even after his death, the O.J. Simpson case is still talked about to this day.   In 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Nicole’s condominium in Los Angeles.

O.J. would be charged with the killing of his ex-wife and her friend.   The trial was televised globally, sparking debates on race, justice, and celebrity, with vastly different reactions across racial lines. Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges, but a civil jury found him liable for the wrongful death. Later in life, Simpson was convicted in Las Vegas for armed robbery and kidnapping, leading to a prison sentence. He died in 2024.