JURY FINDS ROMANOWSKI INNOCENT

Broncos Player Cries As Verdict Read In Drug Trial

A jury Friday acquitted Bill Romanowski of felony drug charges, moving the
Denver Broncos linebacker to tears.

The Douglas County jury took less than five hours to find Romanowski not
guilty of illegally obtaining and possessing the diet medication
Phentermine in an alleged conspiracy involving his wife, his doctor and
family friends.

As the last of four verdicts was read, audible sighs came from the defense
table and Romanowski's attorneys hugged him. For several minutes afterward,
Romanowski sat slumped at the table, wiping his eyes.

"I'm just so thankful to the jury," a still-emotional Romanowski said later.

"I care what people think about me," he said. "I take a lot of pride in
being a good person and a role model, and a lot of that was in question for
sure over the last two years."

Jurors left the courthouse without commenting on their verdicts. But
earlier, alternate juror John Averitt had predicted an acquittal.

Prosecutors, he said, "didn't prove by a reasonable doubt to me that Mr.
Romanowski did anything. As far as conspiracies, they didn't sway me."

About three hours into their deliberations, however, jurors sent three
questions to District Judge Thomas Curry that raised the specter of a
possible guilty verdict.

"It was very, very scary," Romanowski said. "If I'm found guilty by the
jury, it probably would have cost me a year's suspension from what I love
to do. It's my passion."

Now that he's been cleared, Romanowski said, "I'm just looking forward to
spending time with my family and winning a Super Bowl."

The verdicts were a disappointment to prosecutors, who contended that
Romanowski was the recipient of 500 Phentermine pills that Dr. Randall
Snook prescribed in other people's names at the request of Julie Romanowski.

"We took it to a grand jury and they felt there was sufficient evidence to
indict," district attorney's spokesman Michael Knight said. "We concurred.
We thought it was important that the community speak on this issue."

Knight said the verdicts would have no immediate effect on the case pending
against Julie Romanowski, who is scheduled to stand trial Aug. 14 on felony
charges of conspiracy and illegally obtaining Phentermine.

Julie Romanowski made no appearance during her husband's four-day trial.
But after his acquittal, Bill Romanowski said, "I just want to thank my
wife for standing with me. We still have another go-round to take care of her."

Defense attorney Jeffrey Springer called the prosecution of Romanowski
unprecedented and an outrage.

"This was a nothing event ... that threatened his life," he said.

In an impassioned closing argument earlier Friday, defense attorney Harvey
Steinberg attacked the joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Douglas County sheriff's department as sloppy and
fueled by a desire to bring down a high-profile athlete.

Steinberg argued also that the prosecution presented a case with many
unexplained gaps.

"I'm asking you," he told the jury, "don't fill in the holes in this case."

Prosecutor Michael Spear called the allegations against Romanowski a
"classic conspiracy case" in which the person at the top insulates himself
"from the people down there doing the dirty work."

Spear contended that Romanowski did not want his name on the phentermine
prescriptions, in part because he was taking the drug to enhance his
performance on the football field. He said the fact that the National
Football League does not ban the drug did not mean that Romanowski had not
committed a crime.