Basketball Standout Collapses In Court During Sentencing

This is a video that's really hard to watch, for numerous reasons. It's video of 18-year-old Tony Farmer, a basketball standout at Garfield Heights High School in Ohio, collapsing after receiving a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday, after previously pleading guilty to kidnapping, felonious assault, and robbery.

Farmer was arrested last April for kidnapping, assaulting and threatening his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Lane.

Prior to that, Farmer, a 6'7" forward, was ranked among the top 100 prospects in the nation, and had drawn interest from such schools as Ohio State, Xavier, Michigan St., Illinois, and Iowa.

Farmer was hoping to receive probabtion after teachers, coaches, and family members testified on his behalf, and after Lane asked Judge Pamela Barker not to send him to prison, despite wanting no more to do with him.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that there is video of Farmer, apparently upset that Lane broke up with him, kicking Lane in the head at her apartment complex of May last year.  He later sent threatening text messages to her.

I didn't see the video, nor did I watch the trial, but Farmer did plead guilty, and I personally have no problem with the sentence.

When you assualt somebody as Farmer did, including kicking somebody in the head, there has to be a stiff penalty.

Watch as Farmer faints after hearing the sentence handed down by Judge Barker.