LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Rams linebacker and jail inmate Mike Reilly has had his 1983 season ended by National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle. The team says Reilly will be welcomed back in 1984.
Rozelle announced Monday that Reilly, currently serving a one-year prison term for drunken driving and felony vehicular manslaughter, is being suspended for all games through the end of the 1983 season and fined $5,000.
Reilly, sentenced to one year in jail after being convicted of causing the death of one person and seriously injuring two others in an auto accident, had been working out with the Rams as part of a work release program. He is serving the prison term in an Orange County jail.
The Rams late Monday issued the following statement:
'The Los Angeles Rams will comply with Commissioner Rozelle's decision. Mike Reilly will not play for the Rams during the 1983 season and post-season. He will, however, be permitted to practice with the team and use club equipment and facilities. At the conclusion of the suspension, the Rams will allow Mike Reilly the opportunity to pursue his career as a professional football player.'
In advising Reilly of the suspension, Rozelle said that, 'participation in NFL games while serving a jail sentence, in my judgement, is inconsistent with public confidence in and respect for the game of professional football.'
Rozelle said the $5,000 fine would be directed to an appropriate charity.
Reilly, then a rookie from Oklahoma, was involved in an auto accident near the Rams' training camp on Aug. 7,1982, and was convicted of causing the death of one person in another vehicle and seriously injuring two others. He continues to be paid as long as he is under contract.
Reilly has not spoken publicly of the incident, although he did explain his presence at the Cal State-Fullerton training camp.
'It's just a work furlough program in which 200 people in there with me are also involved,' he said. 'I don't think they looked at it any differently than they would for anybody else.'
The conditions of Reilly's furlough are that he is not to travel more than 90-minutes' driving time from the Theo Lacy minimum-custody facility in the City of Orange, must return each night and is allowed out a maximum of six days and 60 hours a week.
