Boxer Jermain Taylor gets 6 years, suspended

Former boxing champion Jermain Taylor leaves the Pulaski County Courthouse on Friday after receiving a six-year suspended sentence in nine felony cases he pleaded guilty to in December.
Former boxing champion Jermain Taylor leaves the Pulaski County Courthouse on Friday after receiving a six-year suspended sentence in nine felony cases he pleaded guilty to in December.

Jermain Taylor, the former champion boxer who called himself Bad Intentions in the ring, conveyed to a judge Friday that he was remorseful and had changed his ways and that his future could be lucrative but his time to take advantage of it was shrinking.

Jermain Taylor through the years

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Attorney Jimmy Morris walks his client, Jermain Taylor, into Circuit Judge Leon Johnson’s courtroom Friday for the former boxing champion’s sentencing hearing. Taylor faced up to 54 years in prison on nine felony charges but received a six-year suspended sentence.

Taylor left the Pulaski County Courthouse free from the fear of immediate incarceration, ready to return to boxing and reclaim his lost championship titles.

For his nine felony convictions, the 37-year-old Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame member received a six-year suspended prison sentence that requires regular drug testing and 120 hours of community service.

But testimony revealed that his finances are bad, his debts are large. And more could be coming: He was served with lawsuits from two victims -- the cousin he shot and a man he battered while in a rehabilitation program -- when he arrived at court.

Taylor's walk out of the courthouse took him through two courtrooms: one to face the outcome of his criminal charges and the second to settle obligations to his ex-wife, who had obtained a contempt-of-court arrest warrant for him in March for not living up to his divorce settlement.

His lawyers reached an agreement with Erica Taylor's attorney to drop the warrant shortly before the boxer arrived at the courthouse Friday.

The couple's divorce had been finalized last July, ending 12 years of marriage that had produced four of Taylor's eight children. That eighth child was born late last year, his lawyers said.

Taylor pleaded guilty in December to six counts of aggravated assault, two counts of terroristic threatening and single counts of second-degree battery and misdemeanor marijuana possession.

The charges together carried a 54-year maximum penalty; prosecutors asked for a 10-year term. None of his victims testified Friday.

Taylor spent about four months in jail after his third arrest -- for fracturing a man's face with a punch in May 2015 -- which had violated the judge's order to stay out of trouble.

He was released only when he promised the judge he would enroll in a Florida training program and not come back to Arkansas without the judge's permission.

His mother died while he was in jail. While he was allowed to attend a private visitation, he could not go to the funeral.

"I've made a lot of mistakes. I just want to apologize to my state, my kids, my cousin and my family," Taylor told the judge. He said he had been miserable separated from his children.

"I want to come back. If you can give me another chance, I'd appreciate it. Boxing is what I do."

At Friday's two-hour hearing, his friends, family and lawyers said the only way Taylor could compensate his victims, support his children and satisfy his creditors is to return to the only thing he knows how to do, box professionally.

It's the only way he can earn the kind of money necessary, but at his age, he only has three or four years left to compete, they said. He'll turn 38 in August, but has no bouts scheduled.

Circuit Judge Leon Johnson said Taylor's celebrity as a former champion and Olympic boxer did not impress him or affect his sentencing decision.

The judge told Taylor he was basing his sentence on how well Taylor had done in his Florida training program, getting in shape to fight and giving up drugs and alcohol.

"I'm going to let you out. I'm going to show you mercy," Johnson said, warning that he could send Taylor to prison for breaking the law or otherwise violating the terms of his sentence.

The judge also fined Taylor $2,000 and ordered to him pay unspecified restitution to his victims, an issue that could bring him back to court if prosecutors and his lawyers can't reach an agreement on the amount.

His attorneys, Hubert Alexander and Jimmy Morris, pleaded with the judge to give the boxer a second chance. Taylor had already spent four months in jail during the 21 months since his first arrest, Alexander said.

Morris told the judge that Taylor's supporters were not asking for favors because he's well-known but to treat the boxer like the judge treats all other defendants. Giving Taylor the opportunity to fight again will put the boxer on the path to repaying what he owes his victims and give him a chance to put his life back together, he said.

"We're asking for what this court has been doing for years and years and years, and that's giving a second chance," Morris said. "If you punish him, put him in [prison], a lot more people will lose."

Eight witnesses testified on Taylor's behalf, saying his time in jail -- all spent in solitary confinement to protect him from inmates eager to challenge the former champion -- plus the time he'd spent getting back into fighting shape in Florida had helped him bring his personal demons to heel and come to grips with his drug abuse issues.

Perhaps the most anticipated defense witness was Pat Burns, the trainer who guided Taylor to a 25-0 record and an undisputed middleweight championship title 10 years ago.

Burns first came forward early in the legal proceedings to be a character witness when he learned Taylor was in trouble. But his role in the boxer's defense expanded immensely when he agreed to train him again, under orders from the judge that Taylor would never be left alone.

Burns told the judge Friday that he's followed his instructions faithfully, bringing in his brother and his son to help, although the time he had to devote to Taylor caused some tension in his marriage.

Taylor was out of shape, "like the Pillsbury dough boy," and wracked by depression and distress when he started, but has overcome that through Burns' program based on the training Burns received in the Marines, he said.

While Taylor's back in fighting shape, as an older athlete he will have to work every day to stay that fit, Burns testified. A lapse in training because he's in prison will end his boxing career, the trainer said.

"There is something good in Jermain," Burns said. "He could have a remarkable second-half of his life."

Taylor received endorsements from the Rev. Kevin Kelly, senior pastor at Second Baptist Church, and Muskie Harris, the former Razorback player and drug-intervention specialist.

Harris said he's formed a close bond with the boxer and has seen him become "the new Jermain," who used his time in jail to examine his life, learn from his mistakes and overcome his substance problems.

Andrew Meadors, the retired stock broker who was Taylor's business manager for a decade, told the judge he's seen the return of the "old Jermain," the man he was before drugs and alcohol took control.

"He's just back to himself," Meadors told the judge. "I believe in Jermain Taylor and that he can be a productive citizen."

Meadors spoke directly to Taylor from the witness stand, telling him "it's OK to be normal. You don't have to be a celebrity."

Little Rock police Sgt. Dennis Moore told the judge he's known Taylor since the boxer was in sixth grade. He said he tried to intervene as Taylor "spiraled out of control" as the drug and alcohol abuse took him over. He said he did not think more incarceration would help Taylor.

"I don't think that's the thing for him," Moore, a 29-year police veteran, said. "I think his time in jail has rehabilitated him."

The judge also heard testimony from Lamont Jones, vice president and general counsel for Haymon Boxing Management, that Taylor's millionaire manager, Al Haymon, has been financing the boxer's eight-month training stay in Florida, despite no immediate plans to have him return to the ring.

Haymon has already stuck with Taylor through the two years it took the boxer to recover from the head injury that almost ended his career, Jones said.

Once Taylor's healthy enough to box, his options will be "plentiful," Jones told the judge.

"His primary focus is Jermain's overall well-being," he said. "The boxing career is not the primary concern."

Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson doubted whether Taylor was as rehabilitated and remorseful as he and his supporters had made out.

Despite having a coterie of friends, family and supporters who have rallied around him during the 21 months since his first arrest, Taylor never sought help for his substance abuse problems until he was in jail and facing prison time, Johnson pointed out.

Questioning the boxer, Johnson asked Taylor why he hadn't apologized to victims Joseph Issac Condon or the Smith family.

Taylor punched Condon so hard that he fractured the man's face while they were enrolled in rehab together in May 2015. What would he say to Condon if the man were in front of him? the prosecutor asked. Taylor said he was sorry for hurting the man, but had been goaded.

"The things you did to me was wrong. I can't control your actions. I can only control my actions," Taylor said. "You were acting like a bully, and you know that. I should have walked away, run away."

Taylor then directed an apology to the Smiths, husband and wife Thelton and Toya Smith, whom Taylor had terrorized, along with their three children, with a gun during an encounter at Little Rock's Martin Luther King Jr. parade in January last year. He said their children should never have had to go through that.

All of his victims were in the courtroom, but for differing reasons chose not to testify, the prosecutor told the judge.

The cousin he shot in the first of his crimes, Tyrone Dawayne Hinton, wanted Taylor free because he's suing the boxer and needs him to return to fighting to pay damages.

Condon, who has also sued, wanted Taylor sent to prison, the prosecutor said. But he did not testify because he is still afraid of the boxer and does not want to be in the media spotlight, the prosecutor said.

The Smiths have moved out of state, but their children are still scared of the boxer, Johnson told the judge. He said they would be comfortable with whatever punishment the judge imposed.

A Section on 05/21/2016

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