CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Former heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe, on trial for the abduction of his wife and five children in 1998, avoided prison time Friday when a federal judge gave him credit for the time he has spent on probation.
After getting the case back from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen sentenced Bowe to 18 months in prison and then released him on bond pending an appeal. Prosecutors and defense attorneys differ on whether Bowe's probation credit will be 19 months or 17 months. Mullen said an appellate court will determine that issue and either side may appeal his ruling.
Bowe's attorney, Robert Altchiler, said after the hearing it was possible that Bowe would have to serve more time if the appeals court did not give him credit for enough time served to cover Friday's sentence.
Bowe, who wore a small U.S. flag pin on the lapel of his black suit, had little to say as he left the courthouse in downtown Charlotte.
"I'm just rolling with the punches," he said.
Before Bowe was released, Mullen said he would continue a court-imposed restriction on boxing, which the defense wanted removed.
"This is the only work he's ever known," Altchiler said. "This is an attempt to protect him from himself."
Altchiler said Bowe could not simply put up a sign at the gym and return to professional boxing. "He would have to go through rigorous testing," he said. Altchiler also dismissed suggestions from prosecutors that Bowe might be in training for an upcoming fight.
"He'd like to (fight) if he were able to," the attorney said, adding that "he's not in fighting shape."
Earlier, Mullen said he would keep the boxing restriction in place, saying Bowe's original sentence was based on a defense argument that brain damage from years of boxing contributed to the crime.
Mullen originally sentenced Bowe to 30 days in prison, but the 4th Circuit ruled in July that the sentence was too lenient. The court ordered Mullen to either set aside Bowe's plea agreement or re-sentence him to a term between 18 and 24 months, as recommended by sentencing guidelines.
"Because Bowe's course of conduct included violent acts and a serious threat of violence, Bowe is not eligible for a departure" from sentencing guidelines, the three-judge panel said.
Prosecutors appealed the sentence, saying Bowe had given up his right to ask for a reduced term under the plea agreement. Bowe's lawyers had argued that his sentence should be reduced because of the boxing-induced brain injury.
Bowe abducted his wife, Judy Bowe, and his five children from their home near Charlotte, in what his lawyers described as a misguided attempt to put his marriage back together. He drove them 200 miles before stopping at a Virginia restaurant, where his wife called for help.
Bowe won a decision against Evander Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight title on Nov. 13, 1992. He lost the WBC title when he refused to fight Lennox Lewis. He lost the WBA and IBF titles on a decision to Holyfield on Nov. 6, 1993.
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