Posted on 08/22/2012 12:55:26 PM PDT by fungoking
Tony Farmer was a blue chip basketball recruit who seemed destined for Division I basketball, but instead the 6-foot-7 high school standout will be spending the next three years in prison.
The Ohio high school star, an 18-year-old senior at Garfield Heights High School, was handed the three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to kidnapping, felony assault, and other crimes, Yahoo! Sports Blog The Dagger reported.
Tony Farmer’s sentence came as a bit of a surprise to those following the trial. After pleading guilty he had a number of teachers, coaches, and family members testify on his behalf. Even the ex-girlfriend he assaulted, Andrea Lane, asked that Farmer not be sent to prison.
“If you give him a chance, he’s in good hands,” Sonny Johnson, Garfield Heights High School’s varsity basketball coach, told the judge, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Joni Wanderstock, one of Tony Farmer’s teachers, also spoke.
“Instead of his massive height, I see his massive heart,” said Wanderstock, Farmer’s English teacher.
Nearly two dozen of those supporters were on hand for the sentencing, including Lane herself. Farmer was convicted of assaulting her in the parking lot of her apartment complex in Bedford Heights, with much of the incident being caught on tape.
As the judge read the sentence, Tony Farmer collapsed to the ground in anguish, with sheriff’s deputies having to hold him. Even Lane was sobbing in the crowed, The Dagger reported.
“I know he was a good person,” she said, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I hope he still is.”
Tony Farmer was a consensus top 100 prospect and was being recruited by many successful Division I programs like Ohio State, Xavier, and Michigan State.
This is how it looks when you tear up your winning lotto ticket in life.
Kidnapping, felony assault, and other crimes—Just good, clean fun.
Effing racists.
It is not journalism's golden age of proofreading.
Have you ever been kidnapped,Joni? If so,were you first drawn to the size of your kidnapper's *heart*,or his *knife*?
The Wages of Gangsta.
You can bet Je$$e Jack$on will be there in a slickster’s second..........
I saw the vid of this idiot falling to the ground when the sentence was handed down. What a drama queen.
Actions have consequences, and the choices Tony Farmer made led him to where he is now. It’s no one else’s fault but his own he threw away his future in basketball. If anything, he should be thanking his lucky stars he’s only going to do 3 years, given the seriousness of his crimes. He’ll still be a young man when he gets out.
“Kidnapping, felony assault, and other crimes—Just good, clean fun.”
This kid is ready for the NBA or NFL.
A few things left out of this story, like he backed his girlfriend into a corner beating her about the face, dragged her by her hair, stole her bank card, cell phone, computer and car keys and for days after sent her menacing messages. He also acted like a child in the courtroom. This guy needs a wake up call and the judge gave him one.
Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time...
... or basketball at Kentucky?
He’ll have plenty of time to ‘turn his life around’.
And maybe a little education.
Time to trademark his name!
Instead of playing for Ohio State University he'll be playing for Ohio State Penitentiary.
Or the University of Miami; you can't spell THUG without the U.
Wouldn't that be racist? (Acting like White people.)
When do the riots begin.
It is racist to hold a Black male responsible for his actions.
What are the oddds that he will end up with most if not all of that sentence suspended, and MIGHT spend 60 days in jail?
I seriously doubt he has thrown his future in the NBA away. The league is full of thugs who have done as bad or worse.
With good behavior he’s probably out in a year plus and then on to making millions and being able to be a criminal with impunity.
It wasn’t always like this. Hell I remember it was a freakin’ scandal when a ballplayer got a divorce back in the day.
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