Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair was charged back in 2017 with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. In a report from Jason Morrin of Conduct Detrimental, the NY Appellate Division has affirmed Telfair’s 3.5-year prison sentence, which the NY Supreme Court initially issued.
In July of 2017, police made a stop and found numerous items in Telfairs possession, including luggage, clothing, sneakers, jewelry, various bags, two small bags of marijuana, and cash. The officers also found four handguns and a bunch of ammo. When he stood trial, the jury convicted Telfair of one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in connection with the .45 caliber gun recovered from the truck’s center console.
However, after the trial, the defense argued whether the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence of prior firearm possession to prove that Telfair knowingly possessed firearms when he was arrested on June 11, 2017.
Telfair has had quite the fall from grace. He was a legend in New York as a highly rated high school basketball player. He was drafted straight out of high school in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft to the Portland Trailblazers.
The trial was quite a spectacle as Telfair’s wife, mistress, and girlfriend all testified. After the trial, Telfair’s sister was arrested and plead guilty for threatening his wife after her testimony helped convict Telfair.
With all his appeals for now exhausted, it looks like Telfair will be spending an extended time in jail on his charges.
No one knows why he had so many guns and ammo with him at the time of his arrest. He has never given an explanation for that, but he was really confident he would win at trial and then win the appeal, but he wasn’t able to do either.
Flip the page for video from the trial.