Stealing a $50 carton of cigarettes, throwing a good Samaritan to the floor and living as a drug-addicted thief landed a 55-year-old Waco man in prison Thursday for 99 years.

A jury in Waco’s 19th State District Court deliberated about an hour before recommending the sentence for eight-time convicted felon Leon Willis Wilkerson.

Wilkerson was convicted of robbery in a July 2008 shoplifting incident that turned violent at Ronn’s Discount Cigarettes, 1430 Lake Air Drive.

Jurors gave Leon Wilkerson a 99-year sentence after seeing a videotape of him stealing a carton of cigarettes and throwing a regular customer to the ground on his way out the door.

A videotape of the incident played for the jury shows Wilkerson, who has 20 total convictions and five previous trips to prison, tucking a carton of cigarettes inside his clothes and walking toward the door.

His path to the door was blocked by a regular customer, whom Wilkerson grabbed and threw to the floor.

Because of his criminal past, Wilkerson was tried as a habitual criminal, which carries a minimum sentence of 25 years. Wilkerson will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

In punishment-phase testimony, Wilkerson told jurors that he is a longtime drug abuser who contracted AIDS by sharing heroin needles.

He admitted that, when not in prison, he steals something at least twice a week. He said he has been arrested 40 times for theft, and said there were thousands of times when he stole and did not get caught.

He told his attorney, Galen Edwards, he hopes to get drug and medical treatment while in prison, saying he wants to rehabilitate himself this time while he is locked up.

“How far can you go with this life?” Wilkerson said sadly. “You have to stop somewhere.”

Prosecutors Lauren McLeod and Edward Vallejo told jurors Wilkerson had earned a lengthy prison stay, not because he needs treatment but because of his criminal past.

“I think the community is served by the sentence,” Vallejo said. “It is absolutely a just and right verdict.”

Edwards told the jury in summations that anything more than 25 years in prison would dash any hope Wilkerson may have to change.

“He is going to be lost, because someone without any hope is truly lost,” Edwards said. “Twenty-five years is a lifetime for a 55-year-old man. Consider the pitiful life that he has had and give this man a chance.”

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737