# Star HS basketball star recruit collapses in despair when he is sentenced to 3 years in prison **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350 "2012-08-23T04:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/121 "2012-08-26T00:34:09Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > First, not many kids have the opportunity to play college ball - so if this kid is in the Top 100, it’s pretty fair to assume that basketball, even college ball, was his best shot at life. Not only shot, but best shot. To me, that’s not an argument for why we should pat him on the head and tell him not to do that any more, but rather an argument for why he deserves an extra kick in the ass. He had an opportunity very, very few people get–a chance at a completely free college education with a possibility of a horribly lucrative career in professional sports–and instead of safeguarding it by the trivially easy method of not being a goddamn thug, he threw it away with both hands. He was given a chance to mitigate the whole thing by being appropriately penitent and well-behaved after the beating, and he threw that away with both hands, too. Exactly how many chances is he supposed to get before we stop saying “He’s only a child! Won’t someone think of the children?” Yes, it’s harsh that his life will likely be forever affected by the choices he’s made as a teenager. It’s also harsh that some boy had one episode of drinking and driving flipped his car and is paralyzed for the rest of his life. It’s harsh that that some girl slept with the wrong guy and got pregnant, dumped, and infected with HIV all at the same time. It’s harsh that some honor student had a serious episode of clinical depression and their grades tanked, costing them a shot at a full-ride academic scholarship. The world is full of harsh shit, some of it plain old bad luck, and some of it our own goddamn fault. This incident is the latter, and while I hate that this guy has fucked up his chances so royally, I can’t bring myself to feel the least bit bad for him. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/122 "2012-08-26T00:39:19Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > ." > > Nobody is advocating a short sentence and a pat on the back. Nobody is making excuses for the guy. Nobody is saying he shouldn’t suffer consequences. Please, pretty fucking please stop arguing against points neither I nor anybody else actually made. So, whats your actual beef then ? Think it should be 1.5 years vs 3? Woo fracking hooo. And this whole “its the only way outa the hood for him” BS. How many pro basketball players are there vs pretty much any other “dayum, thats a good job/career for a black kid” are there? The kid fucked up royally. Multiple times. He lost his dream ticket. He has no one else to blame but himself (and I guess perhaps his shitty upbringing/local “culture” that made him think this sort of shit was acceptable). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/123 "2012-08-26T00:40:21Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > It probably saves her life. Exactly. What message does it send to her if he gets a light sentence? That her safety and well being are negotiable? That it’s no big deal? All this talk about the consequences on the man who assaulted her of he goes to prison. What are the consequences for her if he doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/124 "2012-08-26T00:46:49Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Maybe you’re looking at a different story than I am. There is 1 case of battery and 1 case of intimidation in the story I’m reading. He didn’t “assault his girlfriend after he was told to cut it out.” > > Nobody is advocating a short sentence and a pat on the back. Nobody is making excuses for the guy. Nobody is saying he shouldn’t suffer consequences. Please, pretty fucking please stop arguing against points neither I nor anybody else actually made. Then fucking stop defending this guy and repeatedly implying his sentence is too short. He’s a fucking piece of shit who did this to a fellow human being: > [@](#): > > (from the OP’s source) > > Surveillance video, obtained by the Fox 8 I-Team, shows Farmer striking 18-year-old Andrea Lane in the head, and then continuing to strike and kick her as she cowered in a corner and pleaded for him to stop. But police say he then dragged her outside by the hair and continued to assault her. > > Then, when she tried to get back inside the apartment building, he attacked her again, tried to pull her outside and later kicked her in the head four times. The judge decided after doing this inexcusable shit: > [@](#): > > The judge says she also concluded Farmer was not remorseful after his initial arrest, because he later attempted to intimidate by the victim by sending her a series of text and phone messages. This fucking bastard repeatedly physically assaulted a fellow human being and then threatened to do it again. He’s nineteen. My nine year old knows you don’t fucking do that. If he can’t figure that out after nearly twenty years on the planet he has no business whining that we put him behind bars for a while until he does. Who cares if he plays basketball and might get a college scholarship because he can pass a ball into a hoop? If he can’t figure out that you don’t kick other people in the head he doesn’t even belong in kindergarten let alone higher education. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/125 "2012-08-26T00:49:30Z")
In no way what he did qualify as a “mistake”. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/126 "2012-08-26T01:17:01Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > And this whole “its the only way outa the hood for him” BS. How many pro basketball players are there vs pretty much any other “dayum, thats a good job/career for a black kid” are there? wtf ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/127 "2012-08-26T01:18:06Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > To me, that’s not an argument for why we should pat him on the head and tell him not to do that any more, Since no one said he deserved just a pat on the head, I’m not sure what your point was. None? Okay. > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Exactly. > > What message does it send to her if he gets a light sentence? That her safety and well being are negotiable? That it’s no big deal? All this talk about the consequences on the man who assaulted her of he goes to prison. What are the consequences for her if he doesn’t? I guess - speaking as someone who had been assaulted once and did everything “right” as a victim and there was overwhelming evidence + a confession and _nothing happened_ - I see it as harsh. Christ, people get less for **killing people** while driving drunk. [Example](http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/05/14/delaware-man-accused-repeat-drunken-driving-sentenced-30-months.html). Either drunk driving/manslaughter laws are too light or 3 years is too much. I know **Lavender Blue** thinks driving drunk is minor, but I don’t. > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > In no way what he did qualify as a “mistake”. All crimes are bad decisions, and bad decisions are mistakes. That’s already been said, but keep repeating that. Can you guys imagine where you were 3 years ago? Yeah. Okay. Now replace the last three years of your life to that of life in jail. Again, 18 year old kid. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/128 "2012-08-26T01:22:55Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > Again, 18 year old kid. 18 year old _adult_. And your assailant getting no punishment is what was wrong, not this case. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/129 "2012-08-26T01:34:41Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > wtf How many pro black basketball players are there? versus Black lawyers. Doctors. Engineers. Professors. Businessmen. And a buttload of other “successful” ways to make a nice living. And for that matter, how many black kids shoot for that and come up a bit short, ending up “just” being paralegals, physicans assistants and nurses and like, or engineering techs, or lab techs, or hard working managers at the local resteraunt. Counting on the big score sports wise is dumb IMO. Because unless you make it big, you dont get shit. Nobody hires anyone for being a second rate B ball player. Aim to be a doctor and come up short you’ll still end up with enough education and skills to make a decent living. Perhaps this kids only shot WAS to be a pro basketball player. But that’s the lottery vision of life/career. And his dumb ass threw that away. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/130 "2012-08-26T01:40:08Z")
It may be the teacher in me, but there is **no such thing** as a kid whose ‘only shot’ is making it big in sports. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/131 "2012-08-26T01:45:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It may be the teacher in me, but there is **no such thing** as a kid whose ‘only shot’ is making it big in sports. I’d agree with that. But it sure is a common perception (which IMO sucks royally). I know some lady who has a kid. She is fixated on making her son the next “sport X” big name. And the kid is pretty good. But the kid is also pretty smart and hard working too. If they both put as much time and money into actual academics as they do into this sport thing the kid woud be heading toward Hawwwwvarrrrddd and easy street. But instead they are taking the lottery approach ☹ (and btw they are white). ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/132 "2012-08-26T01:47:00Z")
**billfish678** , you could have just said a “good job” instead of a “good job for a black kid.” That last part? That warrants a “wtf.” It’s like some of ya’ll are forgetting there are real-live black people on this board. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/133 "2012-08-26T01:55:46Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > **billfish678** , you could have just said a “good job” instead of a “good job for a black kid.” > > That last part? That warrants a “wtf.” > > It’s like some of ya’ll are forgetting there are real-live black people on this board. Well, the theme here and society/culture for that matter certainly appears to me to be that the best shot for a black kid is basketball, which is certainly a stereotypical “black kid makes it good the only way he can” career path. You’ll note that I listed a bunch of careers that are NOT stereotypical “black kid” career paths that black kids can do and do do and for that matter are MUCH more likely to actually achieve. And if they don’t reach their goal, at least they got something better than some shitty trophies to build their lives on. Don’t blame me for the “its basketball or nutin” cultural mentallity that permeates society. I’ve hated that shit for decades now. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/134 "2012-08-26T01:56:34Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > Can you guys imagine where you were 3 years ago? Yeah. Okay. Now replace the last three years of your life to that of life in jail. And? If I’d beat the shit out of someone, and threatened them after being told to not contact the person, I’d have deserved those three years in prison. Again, the judge is going to re-evaluate the case in 180 days, plus he can appeal. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/135 "2012-08-26T01:59:35Z")
I’m not blaming you for it. I’m blaming you for playing into it. “Good job for a black kid” plays right into the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/136 "2012-08-26T02:02:19Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I’m not blaming you for it. I’m blaming you for playing into it. “Good job for a black kid” plays right into the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations. You don’t get it do you? I’m not condoning the social expectations. I was echoing them (and mocking them). If you don’t get that…well, I don’t care honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/137 "2012-08-26T02:03:53Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Who cares if he plays basketball and might get a college scholarship because he can pass a ball into a hoop? I don’t. Far as I can tell, nobody else here does, either. That’s the last time I let you bait me in this thread. Just because I don’t agree with you, doesn’t mean I’m defending or excusing him. You can’t have a civil discussion about this, because for some crazy reason anyone who doesn’t trip over themselves in their haste to prove they hate him more than everyone else does gets this kind of crap from you. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/138 "2012-08-26T02:11:29Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > 18 year old _adult_. And your assailant getting no punishment is what was wrong, not this case. Thanks for the first part. As to if a 18 year old is an adult, I disagree. The line is a little arbitrary - kids can fight in wars but not buy beer. I guess I have a hard time seeing a 18 year old senior in high school the way I do an adult. A real adult. Do we tell our 18 year old kids in high school, “Oh, you’re an adult now…so do whatever you want”? No. For all I know, this kid was a Class A Prick who was encouraged and pampered by the adults around him. Or…he could be a typical stupid mentally unstable teenage boy. Whatever comes to him, I hope a strong mentor and some education also find their place in his life. I don’t feel sympathy for a kid who got busted for beating up his girlfriend. I feel that the punishment isn’t appropriate. I also thought he was 17 at the time of the incident, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/139 "2012-08-26T02:31:12Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You don’t get it do you? > > I’m not condoning the social expectations. I was echoing them (and mocking them). If you don’t get that…well, I don’t care honestly. You might need to work on your “mocking” style then. It didn’t sound like you were mocking anything. And I don’t care that you don’t care that I don’t care. Honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350/140 "2012-08-26T02:41:50Z")
Wasn’t the victim black? The US justice system has a well documented history of not punishing crimes against black victims as harshly as it does against white victims. So this is a win for racial equality on that basis. If there’s a discrimination issue here, it’s doesn’t arise out of race. It arises out of the fact that the justice system punishes violence against women more harshly than violence against men. I’m not sure this is a great injustice, though. Our tendency to recoil in horror at the spectacle of a man beating up a woman is probably instinctual, and a good thing overall. Re Kobe Bryant. He’s not a rapist. The pretrial transcripts and evidence established fairly well that the accusation was the result of a sexual encounter Katelyn Faber pursued, and then later regretted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-hs-basketball-star-recruit-collapses-in-despair-when-he-is-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/632350.md?page=8)