Robber's new sentence about the same as the original punishment

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A Tulsa man whose life prison sentence was reversed by an appellate court has been re-sentenced to more than 74 years in prison.

Johnny Bazile Jr., 27, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Terry Kern on Thursday for crimes that included carrying a firearm during a Dec. 23, 1998, pawn shop robbery in which Bazile was accused of shooting two people.

Timothy Clark -- who owned the shop at the time -- was shot in the chest and eventually had to have his spleen removed, court records show. Harmon Welsh, a clerk who was shot in the left hand, has had seven surgeries and has lost half the use and strength of the hand, his affidavit shows.

Bazile was convicted on May 18, 1999, for armed robbery as well as a related firearms count and two counts connected with a separate Jan. 24, 1999, armed robbery.

Kern sentenced Bazile to life in prison plus more than 41 years on Aug. 4, 1999, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver found that Kern should not have exceeded 25 years on the firearms count.

Kern increased Bazile's punishment for the robberies from a 130- to 162-month range to the top of a 188- to 235-month range. But when that 19-plus year term was added to two 25-year firearms counts plus a five-year firearms count, Bazile ended up with a sentence of almost three-quarters of a century.

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