An unemployed truck driver has received a 99-year prison term for stealing a tractor-trailer rig loaded with lumber and leading authorities on a 90-minute chase through Dallas as the truck's cargo caught fire.

Burnice Wilson received the sentence Thursday from a Dallas County jury for the Nov. 7 robbery following a three-day trial and more than two hours of jury deliberation.

Wilson, 42, faced a second-degree felony charge. But the sentencing range was enhanced because of prior felony convictions in Oklahoma and Missouri.

During closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Courtney Stroup asked jurors to give Wilson a life sentence.

"His whole life has been a criminal chase," Stroup said. "He can't stay out of trouble. He can't follow the law … and he endangered the lives of hundreds of people in Dallas County."

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