Prep star Long sentenced
Milwaukee Washington basketball standout Deontay Long gets 12 months in jail for robbery.
High school basketball standout Deontay Long received a 12-month jail term Friday for his role in a robbery last summer.
The jail term is a condition of the five years of probation he received from Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Pedro Colon, and it will be reviewed in six months. At the judge’s discretion, Long could be released at that time. He was taken into custody immediately after the hearing.
If Long violates the terms of his probation, he would receive four years of confinement plus four years of extended supervision.
The sentencing came as the result of Long’s guilty plea in January to being a party to an armed robbery, a Class C felony.
Last June, Long and a four other individuals robbed a sandwich delivery driver of $140.
According to the criminal complaint, the group then attempted to rob a woman walking her dog in the early morning and carjacked another woman as she parked her car.
Long, 18, wasn’t charged in the latter two incidents, though Colon referred to all three incidents during Friday’s hearing.
As his case worked its way through the courts,
Long, a junior, served a suspension per the Milwaukee Public Schools’ athletic code and then led Milwaukee Washington to the Division 2 state final.
The 6-foot-5 guard/forward was the City Conference player of the year. He also received all-state recognition from The Associated Press and Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and was a firstteam all-area pick by the Journal Sentinel.
A Division I talent, he averaged 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game.
Colon noted that Long’s status as an athlete would have no factor in his sentence.
“In this court, we’re not interested if you’re No. 5 in the nation or No. 15,565 in the nation,” he said, “because that doesn’t define your character at all. What defines your character is what you do with the talent you’ve been given.”
Milwaukee Washington coach Freddie Riley, who has provided positive reviews of Long’s performance in school and behavior since the incident, spoke on his behalf to Colon on Friday. So did mentors Anthony McHenry and Mark Wade and Ron Glaser, a Washington hoops legend and friend of the program.
This hearing, however, marked the first time Long offered a public comment on the situation. He read a statement to the judge in which he apologized to the victims, his mother and all those who supported him.
“This does not reflect who I really am,” he said. “I made mistake after mistake that night and I must admit to this day I wonder how I could have done things different that night. I deeply regret my errors. The conduct fell way below my personal standards.”
Long told Colon that he has learned from the situation and has made a change for the better, improving his performance
at school, surrounding himself with better people and building a relationship with God.
Long’s attorney argued for a punishment that didn’t involve jail time. The district attorney recommended four years of confinement and four years of extended supervision.
This was Long’s first offense.
“We have to have standards and you know that better than most young men,” Colon said. “Unless you hit your free throws, unless you consistently do the things that make a good basketball player consistently, you’re not a good basketball player.
“Similarly we have a community standard for what won’t be tolerated, by everyone and anyone. When you decide to rob someone with a gun, you’ve slid off that standard, almost to the bottom of it.”