SAN DIEGO -- A judge Tuesday postponed sentencing for a former NFL running back convicted of choking his girlfriend on two occasions in San Diego in 2005, once into unconsciousness.

Lawrence Phillips, 34, has been rescheduled for sentencing Nov. 20. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

He was found guilty by a jury on Aug. 11 of two counts each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and corporal injury to a cohabitant or spouse. The former professional football standout also was convicted of false imprisonment by violence, making a criminal theft and auto theft.

Phillips refused to attend his trial and elected to remain behind bars when the verdicts were read.

Tuesday, with Phillips present, Judge Kerry Wells granted a defense motion to delay the sentencing so all related issues can be explored.

Amaliya Weisler testified at Phillips's trial that she met him through a friend in 2005 and the two began a relationship almost immediately.

Around 4 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2005, Weisler said she and Phillips argued because "we weren't getting along sexually." She said she questioned why he was living in her apartment, and he slapped her across in the face and put his hands around her neck.

He grabbed her by her hair and choked her until she flipped herself over the couch and broke free, according to Weisler.

"I woke up on the floor unconscious," she testified.

Weisler said 11 days later, she met Phillips at an apartment complex she wasn't familiar with, and he accused her of having sex with one of his friends, then slapped, choked and knocked her over again.

After charges were filed against him, Phillips fled to Los Angeles and was later arrested for deliberately driving a car into three teenagers in a dispute over an impromptu pickup football game. In October 2006, Phillips was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in the Los Angeles case and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Phillips was a star running back at the University of Nebraska in 1995 before being suspended from the team for assaulting his college girlfriend. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a year on probation.

The St. Louis Rams selected Phillips sixth in the 1996 NFL draft. He went on to play for the Miami Dolphins and the San Francisco 49ers.