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BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former heavyweight boxer Clifford Etienne, who learned to fight while serving a prison sentence, has been sentenced to a century-and-a-half behind bars for a crime spree that included an attempt to shoot two police officers.
Etienne was convicted in March of attempted second-degree murder and several other charges after forcing his way into a Baton Rouge check cashing business and stealing more than $1,900 last August. He tried to hijack one car with two children inside, then hijacked another with two children inside before wrecking the second vehicle.
Police said Etienne tried to fire at the police officers who responded, but his gun jammed.
Jurors rejected his lawyers' argument that Etienne did not know what he was doing because he was high on drugs and suffering from brain injuries sustained from boxing.
State District Judge Wilson Fields sentenced Etienne to 150 years, with no chance of parole, on Thursday.
Etienne, a former high school football star in Louisiana, was paroled in 1998 after serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.
He then became a professional boxer, nicknamed the "Black Rhino." In 2001, Etienne signed a multifight deal with Showtime, but his career ending soon after a 49-second first-round loss to Mike Tyson in February 2003.
In January 2004, then-Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster denied a pardon to Etienne.
Etienne was convicted in March of attempted second-degree murder and several other charges after forcing his way into a Baton Rouge check cashing business and stealing more than $1,900 last August. He tried to hijack one car with two children inside, then hijacked another with two children inside before wrecking the second vehicle.
Police said Etienne tried to fire at the police officers who responded, but his gun jammed.
Jurors rejected his lawyers' argument that Etienne did not know what he was doing because he was high on drugs and suffering from brain injuries sustained from boxing.
State District Judge Wilson Fields sentenced Etienne to 150 years, with no chance of parole, on Thursday.
Etienne, a former high school football star in Louisiana, was paroled in 1998 after serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.
He then became a professional boxer, nicknamed the "Black Rhino." In 2001, Etienne signed a multifight deal with Showtime, but his career ending soon after a 49-second first-round loss to Mike Tyson in February 2003.
In January 2004, then-Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster denied a pardon to Etienne.
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