Ex-NBA player Sebastian Telfair was in shock as he received a three-and-a-half years prison sentence on weapons raps. At the recent sentencing, Telfair broke down emotionally, crying and yelling, in a Brooklyn court.
“Please don’t take me from society right now,’’ said the former NBA star from Brooklyn said.
“I am 34. I can go play in China for six years and take care of my family. 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.”
Telfair added, “Sebastian Telfair is going to jail for a…victimless crime.
“Put a gun in his hand and fight for us n—a…I go to the gun store. I got an American Express.’’
During his career, Telfair played for the Portland Trailblazers and Minnesota Timberwolves player. He faced up to 15 years in prison.
“Telfair was stopped in his Ford F-150 pickup truck in Brooklyn in 2017 for driving without his lights on and illegally parking on the median of Atlantic Avenue. Cops then found three loaded handguns, a submachine gun, ammunition, extended magazines and a ballistic vest during a search of his vehicle,” The New York Post reported.
Telfair held a weapons license in Florida but he was not licensed to have the guns in New York.
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According to Telfair, he didn’t know the guns were in the car because he was going through a divorce at the time and had movers put some of his stuff in his truck.
As part of his defense, Telfair claimed the search of his vehicle was illegal because the officers didn’t have a warrant.
The police, however, said they smelled pot coming from the car and that gave them cause to search. They said they found a marijuana cigarette in addition to the weapons. Telfair said the marijuana wasn’t his; he was driving with a friend at the time.
