Olathe ? A man convicted of killing another man who was trying to stop a purse-snatching was a potential major-league baseball player before he became addicted to methamphetamine, his mother said.

Diana Jones testified Thursday that she and her husband had begged their son, Brad Joseph Jones, to stop using drugs but he couldn’t do it.

Brad Jones, 27, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of Jonathan U, who died June 8 after trying to stop Jones from stealing a woman’s purse in Olathe.

Diana Jones testified in a hearing in which the same Johnson County jury that convicted him was asked to give the judge permission to impose stiffer sentences than state guidelines recommend on four other felonies to which Jones had pleaded guilty.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Rick Guinn asked that the sentences be increased because Jones preyed on older women and was not a good candidate for parole or probation.

The jury could not reach a unanimous decision, meaning District Judge John Anderson III will not be able to increase the sentences. Anderson scheduled sentencing for May 31.

Guinn said Jones probably will serve 25 to 30 years before being eligible for parole.

Besides the life sentence with no chance of parole for 20 years for the murder, Jones faces up to 10 years in prison for two counts of robbery, one count of theft and one count of fleeing law enforcement officers.

Two of those charges came from the May 20 purse-snatching that U had tried to stop. The two others arose from a purse-snatching that Jones had committed the day before.