Stanley Wilson Sentenced to Jail

Former running back Stanley Wilson, whose NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals was plagued by drug problems, was sentenced to 22 years in prison Friday for stealing about $130,000 worth of property.

Wilson, 37, was convicted last month of stealing jewelry, camera equipment and other valuables from a Beverly Hills home Jan. 24, 1998.

Under the state’s “three strikes� law, prosecutors were seeking a 25-years-to-life term because Wilson, a former two-time City player of the year at Wilmington Banning High, had already served time for burglarizing two homes in Long Beach.

Superior Court Judge Frank J. Johnson eliminated one of the “strikes� against Wilson, but sentenced him to the maximum on two others.

In throwing out the third strike, Johnson cited Wilson’s “mental problems.�

Besides having a cocaine habit, Wilson suffers from bipolar disorder, defense attorney H. Clay Jacke said. The affliction is characterized by alternating states of mania and depression.

Wilson, who lives in nearby Westchester, sobbed during much of the hearing in West Los Angeles Superior Court.

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Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, jailed since Feb. 5 on charges that he assaulted two motorists after a minor traffic accident last August, has requested that his one-year sentence on assault charges be reduced to eight months, and a hearing is set for Friday at the Montgomery County District Court in Rockville, Md. If Judge Stephen Johnson approves the motion, Tyson could be eligible for release that afternoon, said Eric Seleznow, a spokesman for the county’s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

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The woman who sued New England Patriot quarterback Drew Bledsoe and lineman Max Lane has agreed to a settlement. Tameeka Messier of Maynard, Mass., sued the Paradise Rock Club, the players and the Portland (Ore.) rock band Everclear, claiming she was seriously injured when Bledsoe and Lane dived off the stage into the crowd in 1997. . . . The manager of an auto leasing company has denied that cash payments were made on behalf of a Nevada Las Vegas basketball player by a former student manager. Mike Hattery of Las Vegas Auto Leasing said the only payments his company received for the lease on Tyrone Nesby’s car were made in person by Nesby or by mail.

Miscellany

Jim Courier’s reward for winning in the first round of the Lipton tennis tournament at Key Biscayne, Fla., will be a second-round match against Pete Sampras. The former Lipton champions will meet for the 20th time on the ATP Tour in a rivalry dating to junior tournaments. The unseeded Courier advanced by defeating Jan Frode Andersen of Norway, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2. His record against Sampras is 4-15.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who came into the tournament with a shot at the No. 1 ranking, lost to Vince Spadea, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

On the women’s side, No. 7 Steffi Graf of Germany needed only 47 minutes to beat practice partner Jennifer Capriati, 6-0, 6-1, in their first match since 1993. No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland defeated Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 3 Monica Seles beat Brie Rippner, 6-3, 7-5.

Stock car driver Jeff Gordon, looking to establish early-season dominance, took another step in that direction by winning the pole for the TranSouth 400 at Darlington, S.C. Gordon, with two victories in four Winston Cup starts this year and five in his last seven outings at Darlington Raceway, ran the third-fastest lap in the history of NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway: 173.167 mph. Meanwhile, Bobby Labonte suffered a broken right shoulder blade in a crash during practice, putting his status for Sunday’s race in question. Mark Martin, the dominant Busch Grand National driver at Darlington, won his record sixth pole in qualifying for today’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

Quarterback Glenn Foley, who lost his starting job with the New York Jets last season to Vinny Testaverde, was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a seventh-round pick draft pick. . . . Free-agent quarterback Steve Bono, 36, signed a two-year, $1.4-million contract with the Carolina Panthers.

Misty Hyman swam to victory in the 100-yard butterfly and was on two winning relay teams for Stanford, but host Georgia held onto its lead in the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships at Athens. The Bulldogs have 323.5 points to 312 for Stanford. USC is in sixth place. . . . Minnesota sent wrestlers into the finals in the top three weight classes at State College, Pa., to take a slim lead over Iowa in its bid to win its first NCAA championship.

Chad Fleischer and Kirsten Clark won the men’s and women’s national downhill ski championships on the new Wildflower course at Snowbasin Ski Resort in Huntsville, Utah, which will host the 2002 Olympic downhill. . . . Chinese skaters dominated the women’s 1,500-meter final on the opening day of the World Short Track Speedskating Championships at Sofia, Bulgaria. Two skaters, both named Yang Yang, won the gold and silver medals. Italy’s Fabio Carta defeated Japan’s Satoru Terao for the gold in the men’s 1,500-meter final.

Marion Jones (21.84 seconds) and Michael Johnson (20.10) won 200-meter races in the Engen Grand Prix Summer Series track meet in South Africa.