Ex-Boxer Allowed to Rethink Guilty Plea

Henry Tillman, the heavyweight boxer who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics and was scheduled to be sentenced Friday for credit card fraud, was allowed a two-week delay in Torrance Superior Court so that he may reconsider the guilty plea he had agreed to in July.

Even if Tillman decides to withdraw his plea, it will be up to Judge William Hollingsworth Jr. to rule whether a not guilty plea will be allowed or whether the guilty plea stands. Hollingsworth expressed annoyance with the last-minute motion that Tillman’s lawyer submitted, but granted the extension until Jan. 17 on constitutional grounds.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wendy Mohammed Derzaph was perplexed by Tillman’s action, saying, “I felt we gave him a very generous plea agreement.”

Tillman, 34, of Diamond Bar pleaded guilty to credit card fraud July 17, after a video camera at Hollypark Casino in Inglewood showed him using a counterfeit credit card. Under the plea agreement, he was to be sentenced to 32 months in prison. Because Tillman was convicted of armed robbery in 1982, under California law he would have to serve a minimum of 85% of his sentence.

Tillman, who twice beat Mike Tyson in amateur bouts, climbed from a life as a street tough to win the gold medal, then went on to a respectable professional boxing career.