CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Riddick Bowe was brain damaged from blows in the ring when he pleaded guilty to abducting his wife and five children in 1998, his lawyers said.
Now, they want a judge to place the former heavyweight champion in a special treatment program.
"We discovered information about Mr. Bowe's mental capacity that we did not know at the time," said Johnnie Cochran Jr., who successfully represented O.J. Simpson. "We want to give the court this information."
Bowe's three lawyers did not say Monday whether they wanted U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen to spare the fighter prison time. Under a plea agreement Bowe signed in June 1998, he faces a sentence of 18-24 months in prison. He has been free on $250,000 bail.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Bell objected to Cochran's request to introduce new evidence about Bowe's medical problems. He said it was tantamount to breaking Bowe's plea agreement. The judge denied the government's request.
The defense presented witnesses Monday in federal court, where Bowe was supposed to be sentenced for abducting his estranged wife and children in 1998.
The hearing was to resume again Tuesday, when a neurologist and a neural psychologist were expected to testify for the government.
A federal indictment said Bowe went to Judy Bowe's Charlotte home on Feb. 25, 1998, and threatened her with a knife, handcuffs, duct tape and pepper spray. He forced her and the youngsters into a vehicle and set out for his Fort Washington, Md., home.
At a restaurant in South Hill, Va., Judy Bowe called her sister in North Carolina, who guided police to the restaurant. Judy Bowe received a superficial stab wound, reportedly inflicted by Bowe, who entered a treatment center for counseling and therapy that same day.
In June 1998, Bowe pleaded guilty to a federal interstate domestic violence charge for which he could face 18-24 months in prison. Had he been convicted of federal kidnapping charges, he could have been sentenced to 10 years and fined $250,000.
On Monday, Cochran said the 32-year-old boxer suffers from a mental disorder caused by blows to the head during his years in the ring. He said Bowe and his lawyers were unaware of his mental problems when he agreed to plead guilty.
Forensic psychiatrist Neil Blumberg testified that Bowe underwent a personality change due to "frontal lobe brain damage." Mullen asked Blumberg if he believed Bowe's brain damage could have caused him to drive to North Carolina and abduct his family.
"It was a direct primary contributor to the offense," Blumberg said.
Bowe's former manager, Rock Newman, testified Bowe's behavior became more erratic after he retired, affecting his decision-making. Newman cited Bowe's decision to join the Marine Corps Reserve as an example. Bowe left boot camp after 11 days.
"Some of this is embarrassing," said Newman, who said he has been on bad terms with Bowe for several months. "At one point he bought 26 cars and then sold 18 of them. Then he went out and bought 15 more."