Morrison receives fine, 30 days in jail

Friday, February 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Former heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Morrison has pleaded guilty in an Arkansas court to misdemeanor marijuana and public intoxication charges. Morrison, who is serving a two-year sentence at an Arkansas Corrections Department facility in Texarkana, did not appear in court Thursday in Huntsville, Ark., the Tulsa World reported.

Prosecutor Bill Allred said Morrison received a $500 fine and 30 days in jail for possession of marijuana and a $100 fine for public intoxication in exchange for his guilty pleas to both counts. The jail time will run concurrently with the prison time Morrison is serving.

Morrison, who is formerly from Jay, Okla., has had numerous run-ins with the law in the past few years. The pleas Thursday stem from his Thanksgiving Day arrest near Huntsville after he ran from a traffic accident. He was a passenger in a car driven by Bart Bumpass. Bumpass was arrested and charged with possession of drugs, possession of firearms and driving while intoxicated.

Morrison was sent to prison last month after pleading guilty to drug and traffic charges filed in September in Fayetteville, Ark. The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office plans to try to extradite Morrison to Oklahoma and has asked the court to revoke a suspended sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol. Morrison became the World Boxing Organization's heavyweight champion in 1993 by defeating George Foreman. He had 40 knockouts during his career, the last in 1996 -- just after testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS.