Former NBA first-round draft pick Sebastian Telfair was in a Brooklyn courtroom to learn his sentence after being convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in April. He was facing up to 15 years in prison after officers discovered a cache of weapons in his Ford F-150 pickup truck during a traffic stop in 2017. The guns were legally purchased and licensed in Florida, but Telfair was not permitted to have them in New York City.
Telfair begged the judge to spare him prison time in an impassioned plea.
"Please don't take me from society right now. I am 34. I can go play in China for six years and take care of my family," Telfair said. "I'm waiting for my daughter right now to get her period. Real mental illness because I wasn't around. She hasn't even gotten her period yet."
He began shouting and crying as he tried to make a rambling case for leniency.
"Sebastian Telfair is going to jail for a victimless crime. Put a gun in his hand and fight for us n****. I go to the gun store. I got an American Express," he yelled.
The judge did not spare Telfair jail time and sentenced him to three-and-a-half years behind bars.
"This defendant exercised his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm,"District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. "The mandatory prison sentence he received today is required by law, and he has now been held accountable for the unlawful conduct."
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