TALLADEGA COUNTY — Talladega County Circuit Judge Bo Hollingsworth sentenced former Lincoln Police Sgt. Kevin Wade Jung to 22 years in prison Wednesday afternoon. A jury convicted Jung of the murder of Wayne Earl Ellis of West Monroe, La., in September.

Jung, who did not testify at his trial, maintained his innocence Wednesday. “I am sorry for what happened that night, for what happened to Mr. Ellis, but I had no part in it,” Jung told Hollingsworth.

Defense attorney Tommy Spina agreed, saying “something happened that,” but added that the evidence presented was stronger against co-defendant Kenneth Pollard. Jung’s actions were, he said “less palpable, more sins of omission.”

Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens said that, while Jung undeniably had the right not to testify, he might have been better off proclaiming his innocence to the jury before he was convicted rather than to the judge afterward.

Jung and Pollard were both working for the Lincoln Police Department in June 2003. Ellis had set out from his home in Louisiana and was headed to Nashville to help his brother repair his roof. He stopped in Meridian, Miss., where he picked up a hitchhiker named Wayne Whitely, along with Whitely’s dog. Before crossing into Alabama, Ellis and Whitely stopped to buy liquor. Ellis spilled some of his, Whitely offered him the rest and went to sleep.

According to Whitely’s testimony, he woke up in the parking lot of the Burger King-Texaco Station in Lincoln, after Ellis evidently overshot his exit in Birmingham.

Ellis, he continued, seemed to have gotten into an argument with some teenagers in the parking lot, and gunned the engine of his truck at them, although he did not actually drive towards them.

Whitely, who has a lengthy criminal history, said that Pollard then pulled Ellis out of the truck, slammed his body into the side of the truck and then hit him on the head with a flashlight as he staggered backward. He said Pollard and the other officer, whose face he did not see, then beat Ellis as he lay on the ground for several minutes. He was then taken into custody while Ellis was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Talladega, then to Birmingham, where he subsequently died.

Pollard was convicted of murder in late 2005, and was also sentenced to 22 years in prison, by Circuit Judge Julian King.

A jury was struck to try in Jung in 2007, but Hollingsworth declared a mistrial because of an initial statement Whitely gave, the day after the beating.

Also in court Wednesday:

• Hollingsworth sentenced Joel Garrett, 22, to 60 months in prison for distribution of a controlled substance.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Darelle Marlo Fortner, 25, to 20 years in prison for robbery in the first degree. Fortner has a prior felony conviction in Oklahoma.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Joshua Dane Salter, 29, to 10 years for manufacture of a controlled substance in the second degree. Salter has one prior felony.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Calvin Pope to time served for possession of marijuana in the second degree. Pope had been indicted for felony marijuana possession, but pleaded down to the included misdemeanor.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Daniel Hargrove, 23, to four years, suspended, three years probation pending drug treatment for possession of a controlled substance.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Samuel James Williams, 23, to concurrent 10 year sentences for manufacture in the first degree and possession of a controlled substance.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Mark Hanson, 43, to concurrent 15 year, six year and 12 month sentences for manufacture in the first degree, possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana in the second degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced former corrections officer James Logan Lockridge, 25, to 30 months for promotion of prison contraband.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Earl D. Pickett, 32, to 15 years in prison for burglary in the third degree. Pickett has four prior felony convictions.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Markelius Swain, 26, to five years in prison for the willful abuse of a child under 18.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Neal Adair to seven years for burglary in the third degree. Adair has one prior.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Chiquitta Jackson, 29, to four years, concurrent, suspended, three years probation pending drug rehab on each of five counts of possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Otis “O.J.” Jackson, 23, to 15 years in prison for burglary in the third degree. Jackson has 16 prior felony convictions.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Timothy Twyman, 39, to three years, suspended, three years probation for cruelty to a dog in the first degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Sheila Diane Parker, 55, to five years, suspended, three years probation, for theft of property in the first degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Christopher Wilson, 34, to 12 months, suspended, two years probation for promoting prison contraband in the third degree. Wilson was indicted for second degree promotion, which is a felony, but pleaded down to the misdemeanor.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Michael Mack Gilliland, 20, to concurrent four year sentences for theft of property in the first degree and burglary in the third degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Tiffany Nicole Borden, 23, to five years, suspended, three years probation for forgery in the second degree.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Terry Lee McDaniel, 40, to 15 years for escape in the third degree. McDaniel has four prior felony convictions.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Kenneth Brian Williamson, 26, to 20 years for manufacture of a controlled substance in the second degree. Williamson has three or more prior felony convictions.

• Hollingsworth sentenced Carla Parker Womack, 50, to five years in prison and $227,000 in restitution to H&H Asphalt Company, her former employer. Womack previously pleaded guilty to theft of property in the first degree.

• King sentenced Quatrell R. Jews, 19, to 24 years in prison for robbery in the first degree.

• King sentenced Tawanda McElrath, 29, to four years, suspended, three years probation and three months in the county jail for possession of a controlled substance and carrying a pistol without a permit.

• King sentenced Robert Barber, 22, to six years in prison for receiving stolen property in the first degree.

• King sentenced Daniel Payne, 22, to three concurrent two year sentences for fraudulent use of a credit or debit card.

• King sentenced Stephanie Antonia Hasty, 34, to three years for fraudulent use of a credit or debit card.