KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? A Wichita man who robbed a bank and then tried to escape by stealing a plane was sentenced to 32 years in federal prison.

Bennie J. Herring II, 45, admitted in federal court in December to holding up a branch of Capitol Federal Savings in Olathe on May 18, 2005. He then forced several bank employees to strip to their underwear and drive him to an airport, where he tried to commandeer an airplane.

Officers shot Herring as he ordered a student pilot and flight instructor out of the plane as it sat on a runway with the engine running. He then was taken into custody.

Herring told U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil on Monday he had financial problems and was depressed at the time of the robbery. His defense attorney, Michael Harris, has said Herring was suffering from chronic and acute depression but did not have a severe enough illness to use a mental illness defense.