Tony Farmer – A Cleveland area high school basketball star saw his promising athletic future crash and burn before his eyes on Tuesday when he was sentenced to three years in jail for the kidnapping and assault of his ex-girlfriend last May.
Tony Farmer, a 6-foot-7 blue chip small forward prospect, was being wooed by the likes of Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, West Virginia, Xavier and Dayton. That mattered little as he was sentenced on counts of kidnapping, assault, robbery and intimidation from an incident that took place in the lobby and parking lot of Andrea Lane’s apartment complex.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the incident was captured on videotape and showed Farmer repeatedly kicking Lane in the head as she cowered in a corner. Farmer later sent threatening text messages to his ex-girlfriend.
Lane, who had angered Farmer by breaking up with him, asked that he not be sent to prison, but made it clear that she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Farmer’s mother also begged for leniency for her son, testifying that he was a good kid who had been in love and had “made a bad decision.”
A second-team All-State pick at Gar-Field Heights High School last season, Farmer faced the gallery of people gathered in the courtroom when it was his turn to speak, apologizing to Lane, her family and to his own family.
The judge said she would review the sentence after 180 days.
The 18-year-old Farmer, who would have been a high school senior this year, pleaded guilty to the charges in July, but had expected to only be placed on probation. Dressed in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back, he recoiled as the jail sentence was read, immediately crumbling to the floor in anguish.
Farmer became the second elite high school basketball prospect to make the news this week with issues of domestic violence. This past Saturday, Seton Hall commit and Baltimore native Aquille Carr was arrested for allegedly beating up his girlfriend.
Another bites the dust. When are we going to teach our young black men about the rules of life off the court? Its so sad and meaningless.
its not our males its these terrible little girls that the bastards of the ronald reagan era have put out into the world
Tony Farmer should have bounced. No woman is worth throwing your life away for. You just move on. The Justice system didn't care about a basketball career.
I agree, such bullshit!
Obviously Mr. Farmer did not care about his basketball career either
Awww… poor baby… beat the crap out of your girlfriend… I think you should have gotten more than 3 years!
Don't know the kid or the circumstances, but I do know you CANNOT spoil children to the point that they can't emotionally accept when they are denied something that they want. This is just one of the results of spoiling a boy or a girl and giving them everything they think they want. They cannot handle when things don't go their way. I just hope that he gets his life back on track because 9 times out of 10 child rearing was a factor. We as women overcompensate when we assume our children are behind the 8-ball. We coddle and give them too much, buy them too much, say yes when we should be saying no. We spare the rod and instead give them a "talking to". Boys need to earn what they get. It instills good work habits. Boys especially need a FIRM handling. They need their fathers to touch their lives in ways a woman or a grandmother cannot. Mothers in their fear, overcompensate and spoiling their boys (and girls) especially when they are single parent, or even a parent who grew up with a low self esteem OFTEN live vicariously through the lives of their children. Structure his life with disciplined activities and focused learning-find a church home, extended family members who have great role models who your son can copy. And some need to stop sending lil' Johnnie outside to play while you entertain yo man!
This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. I do not intend to make light of the very major issue that Tony Farmer was guilty of domestic abuse. I have a daughter and it kills me to just imagine her living thru such a hellish experience. However, I believe the courts should be creative in their sentencing of this youth. We have ALL done things that we are not proud of. Mr. Farmer has a problem. I don't know if it's because he was spolied as child. If it was possibly because he witnessed domestic abuse as a child or because he has an uncontrollable temper. In any case, I do believe the courts could be creative enough to punish him DULY ; while helping him to address his very real issue and continuing on to possibly be very successful in his life. More good will surely come from addressing his issue of him being a domestic abuser and allowing him to be a contributing member of society. I say don't throw the baby out with the bath water!
He thought he wasn't going to jail you live and you learn smh future was bright.
What an idiot
Yes indeed
He's lucky he only got three years.
I agree with the sentance to a degree – But How many days in prison did Chris Brown get? Funny, how are courts work.
He's an animal. He needs to be tamed. Shame does not work for animals!
Prison will do him good and save more woman from the beast!
didn't he get 3 counts?
1st count- 3 yrs.
2nd count- 2 yrs.
3rd count-2 yrs.
counts two and three are to be served to the parental authority services meaning he would serve them in a halfway house and/or on parole or house arrest
Lesson learned -in sorry doesn't cut it.
You can't always get what you want…but you aften get what you need. Tony is going to have plenty of time to reflect on his actions.
hard lesson but he should be put away to put other fools on notice!