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BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former heavyweight boxer Clifford Etienne, who learned the sport while serving a prison sentence in Louisiana, has been convicted of an Aug. 10 crime spree that included robbery and an attempt to shoot two police officers.
Late Thursday, a state district court jury rejected defense claims that Etienne did not know what he was doing because he was high on drugs and suffering from brain injuries sustained from boxing.
Authorities said Etienne fired a shot and forced his way into a check cashing business and took more than $1,900 on Aug. 10. He tried to hijack one car with two children inside and hijacked another with two children inside before wrecking the second vehicle and being caught by police.
Police said Etienne tried to fire at police and one of the drivers, but the gun jammed both times.
Etienne was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, attempted car*******, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, attempted second-degree murder and two counts of attempted manslaughter. Assistant District Attorney Prem Burns said Etienne faces at least 64 years in prison.
Etienne, a former high school football star, was paroled in 1998 after serving 10 years of a 40-year armed robbery sentence and became a professional boxer.
In 2001, Etienne signed a multifight deal with Showtime worth $1 million, but his career went downhill quickly, largely coming to an end with a 49-second first-round loss to Mike Tyson in February 2003.
In January 2004, then-Gov. Mike Foster denied a pardon to Etienne.
Late Thursday, a state district court jury rejected defense claims that Etienne did not know what he was doing because he was high on drugs and suffering from brain injuries sustained from boxing.
Authorities said Etienne fired a shot and forced his way into a check cashing business and took more than $1,900 on Aug. 10. He tried to hijack one car with two children inside and hijacked another with two children inside before wrecking the second vehicle and being caught by police.
Police said Etienne tried to fire at police and one of the drivers, but the gun jammed both times.
Etienne was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, attempted car*******, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, attempted second-degree murder and two counts of attempted manslaughter. Assistant District Attorney Prem Burns said Etienne faces at least 64 years in prison.
Etienne, a former high school football star, was paroled in 1998 after serving 10 years of a 40-year armed robbery sentence and became a professional boxer.
In 2001, Etienne signed a multifight deal with Showtime worth $1 million, but his career went downhill quickly, largely coming to an end with a 49-second first-round loss to Mike Tyson in February 2003.
In January 2004, then-Gov. Mike Foster denied a pardon to Etienne.
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