Teen basketball star and top NBA prospect collapses to floor as judge reads three-year sentence for assault and kidnap of girlfriend
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Dramatic court room footage shows the moment when a once promising Ohio high school basketball star collapsed after being sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting and kidnapping his girlfriend.
Visibly stunned by the verdict, 18-year-old Tony Farmer fell to the floor as Cuyahoga County Court Judge Pamela Barker read out the star basketball player's sentence for the April incident.
Asking his attorney Joe Dubyak, 'I got three years?', the six-foot-seven, 220 pound teen exclaimed 'Oh s**t' as his enormous legs gave way while his relatives can be heard crying out against the verdict.
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Tony Farmer prepares to hear the verdict from Judge Barker at Cuyahoga County Court
Fainting because Judge Barker added a two year sentence for felonious assault and two years for robbery to the three year kidnapping sentence he had already received, Farmer had to be helped to his feet by two court officials.
However, the basketball player misunderstood the sentencing and managed to recover as his lawyer explained that he can file for judicial release after serving 180 days.
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Share'I haven't finished yet,' said Barker as one court officer struggled lift the handcuffed teen up.
Leaning over to talk to him, his lawyer tried to explain that he needed to respect the court.
Tony Farmer reacts in horror as the judge begins to read out his consecutive sentences
Tony Farmer's legs buckle as he thinks he is to spend seven years in prison
'Tony, come on Tony,' said Dubyak reported Fox 8.
'It's not as bad as you think it is.'
Named Second Team All-Ohio for the 2011-12 season by the Associated Press, Farmer is highly rated and was set for a potentially stellar career in college basketball at Michigan State, Illinois and Xavier colleges.
Despite pleading guilty to the three charges and his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend Andrea Lane making a statement on his behalf in court, Farmer forfeited any college scholarship when he attacked Lane on April 23rd.
Surveillance video shows Farmer striking Lane in the head and then proceeding to kick and strike her as she cowers in a corner pleading for him to stop.
The once promising basketball player falls to the floor as a court official tries to lift him
Eventually he rises to his feet and listens as the judge explains the technicalities of his sentencing
Police said the Garfield Heights High School senior then dragged her outside of her Bedford Heights, Cleveland apartment and continued to beat her.
'I don’t know what was wrong with him that day, I mean I know he was a good person, I hope he still is, I hope he learns from this,' said Lane to the court.
However, despite the appeals of his school, family and ex-girlfriend, Judge Barker said she saw no reason to be lenient.
Tony Farmer is seen in this CCTV pictures punching his girlfriend in the face and then pushing her to the ground at her Bedford Heights, Cleveland apartment
Andrea Lane speaks on behalf of her ex-boyfriend asking the court for leniency for him
'There’s nothing in the sentencing guidelines that talks about him being a basketball star, and being able to go forward, when obviously she’s been very traumatized by this whole situation,' said the judge.
In addition, the court heard on Tuesday that Farmer even attempted to intimidate the victim with a series of text and phone messages.
'He certainly threatened her or said that he should have done something more to her and so that in addition to what I saw on the tape was very telling to me and it was a violation of the ‘no contact’ order that was put in place to protect her,' said Barker.
'The opportunities that were lost, I would just say that he lost them.'
Farmer is led away to begin his sentence as his family cries out in anguish
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