Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips was sentenced Friday to 10 years in state prison for aiming a car at a group of boys and young men after an August 2005 pickup football game near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hitting three of them.

The 33-year-old former Baldwin Park High School and University of Nebraska standout -- who went on to play for the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers -- tearfully apologized to one of the victims, who was in court to hear Phillips' punishment meted out.

"I'm sorry that your leg is messed up," Phillips told Rodney Flores, after hearing the young man tell the court that he was unable to pursue his dream of playing high school sports as a result of being hit when he was 16.

"I'm sorry you have to come in here like this," Phillips said, adding that he "wanted the chance to say I didn't mean to hurt people."

"... I take full responsibility for what I did ... I had no intention (of) harming people," said Phillips, who was convicted in October 2006 of seven felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

"Do I think you're remorseful? I think you're remorseful," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli told Phillips, but added that the ex-athlete "should have thought about what you did."

"... Overall, do I think you're a good person? I think you are," the judge said, adding that he feels "very sorry for the victim in this matter, whose life has been changed forever."

Lomeli -- who denied the defense's motion for a new trial -- cited the seriousness of the charges in denying probation to Phillips.

Three of Phillips' former football coaches were among the nine people who showed up to speak on his behalf, with former University of Nebraska
football coach George Darlington telling the judge, "If the court so chose to release Lawrence for time served, he's welcome to come and live with me in San Diego."

Phillips had a "tremendous work ethic" and was the "epitome of a team player" who was spoken about "glowingly" by everyone during the college recruiting process, Darlington said.

Tony Zane, a former football coach at Baldwin Park High School, said he had the privilege of attending some of Phillips' games after he moved on.

"He would never intentionally hurt someone. That's the Lawrence Phillips I know," Zane said.

Trifone Pagone, another of Phillips' former high school football coaches, said he "worked very hard" to accomplish his dream of going to college and playing professional football.

"We know him as a hard-working young man," Pagone said. He said Phillips was not the man who had been depicted in news reports about the case, adding that he "has a support system out here waiting for him."

Phillips' mother, Juanita, said her son is "not a violent person as has been projected," and noted that a lot of people believe he can be salvaged.

Greg Malo, who played football with Phillips in Barcelona in the late 1990s, said Phillips told him then that he liked spending time with children because they didn't judge him and let him be himself.

"He was like the Pied Piper. Kids went to him," said Malo, who told the judge he hadn't seen Phillips since 1999.

Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks said he realized that Phillips has a "great support system" and was moved by the testimony of those in court on the defendant's behalf.

The prosecutor also noted that Phillips "has a great talent."

But, Hicks said, "He's thrown it away, and now he's here," adding that there were "several instances where he's used rage to solve his problems."

The prosecutor said the boys and young men had the horror of watching a car come onto the field and watching one of their friends hit the windshield before the 2003 Honda Accord peeled off the field and sped away.

Hicks noted Phillips' prior brushes with the law. Those included a 1995 incident involving a college girlfriend in Nebraska, a 2000 run-in with a girlfriend in Beverly Hills and a pair of alleged assaults on a girlfriend in San Diego in August 2005 -- shortly before the incident at the pickup football game.

The prosecutor told jurors during Phillips' trial that the former NFL player became "agitated" when his team fell behind in the pickup game, "stormed off the field," accused the boys of stealing from him, and drove the Accord onto the field at a high rate of speed.

Two teenage boys and a 19-year-old man were struck, and four other people whose ages ranged from 15 to 24 managed to get out of the way, according to the prosecutor.

Phillips was arrested that day and has remained jailed since then.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)