Niusulu Gets 120 Days in Jail

By Steve Henson

Feb. 12, 2003 12 AM PT

UCLA defensive tackle C.J. Niusulu has been sentenced to 120 days in jail for punching an employee at a Barstow drive-in theater last summer.

Niusulu, a part-time starter as a freshman last season, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and will begin serving weekends beginning Feb. 21. His sentence is not expected to interfere with classes or football.

Coach Karl Dorrell is out of town and was unavailable to comment on whether Niusulu will be punished by UCLA.

UCLA Sports

Steve Henson

Steve Henson is a reporter with the Fast Break sports team at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as an assistant editor and reporter in the Sports department. Henson was a leader in digital-only newsrooms from 2007-19 as a senior editor and columnist at Yahoo Sports and as senior editor at the USA Today Sports Media Group. This is his second stint at The Times, having covered the Dodgers and UCLA as well as doing enterprise, investigative and features writing from 1985-2007. Henson was awarded first place in sports features in 2021 by the L.A. Press Club and has been honored several times by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and also by the California News Publishers Assn., the Football Writers Assn. of America and U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

Niusulu Gets 120 Days in Jail

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