Life, no parole for attack on Javon Walker

LAS VEGAS, July 8 (UPI) -- A man convicted of multiple felonies, including kidnapping and robbery, in an attack on NFL star Javon Walker, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Deshawn Thomas, 42, said through his lawyer he would appeal the sentence after Clark County (Nev.) District Court Judge Douglas Smith sentenced him under the habitual offender law, which allows for lengthier-than-normal prison terms.

Thomas was convicted in April of six felonies, including first-degree kidnapping, robbery and battery, after a two-week trial that featured testimony from Walker and Thomas' co-defendant in the case, Arfat Fadel.

Thomas -- already serving a two- to five-year prison term for stealing a tourist's watch about two weeks before he robbed Walker June 16, 2008 -- addressed the court at the sentencing.

"No matter the outcome of this, my life will be a positive reflection and a motivational inspiration to my children and my family and possibly to some of the people of our society," the Las Vegas Review-Journal quoted him as saying.

Walker, 31, a former Oakland Raiders wide receiver who is now an unsigned free agent, testified he was drunk when he got into a car with two men he didn't know around 3:30 a.m. after a night of partying at Las Vegas clubs.

The men robbed him of $3,000 in cash, $4,000 in casino chips and $100,000 in jewelry, testimony indicated. Walker was found unconscious around 7 a.m. and hospitalized with "significant injuries," including a concussion and a battered face, police said.

Fadel, 32, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified against Thomas in exchange for a chance to be released from prison in less than 15 years. Fadel, who has no prior criminal history, is to be sentenced next week.