Gervonta Davis’ original sentence of house arrest has been changed to a jail sentence after the Baltimore boxer violated the conditions of his sentence, and will remain as such after his judge rejected his attorney’s motion to overturn the sentence. Davis was sentenced to house arrest for a hit-and-run accident he was involved in in 2020. However, he was moved to jail roughly a month ago after purchasing and moving into a 7-figure mansion without notifying the judge.
As recently reported by the Baltimore Sun, Gervonta Davis’ lawyer (29-0, 27 KO’s) had approved the boxer’s purchase of the home (as he himself admitted in court) and stay at the Four Seasons hotel. This was because, as the attorney explained, the boxer’s security couldn’t stay in the one-bedroom apartment Davis was sentenced to.
“The point is … I made a decision for his safety, Judge,” Michael Tomko, Davis’ former attorney allegedly claimed in court. “He didn’t do — he listened to me.”
Gervonta Davis sentence designated him to stay at his coach’s one-bedroom apartment for the remainder of his house arrest, but the Baltimore native purchased a mansion during his stay in a luxury hotel and moved to his new home afterwards. After a GPS monitoring company was alerted of his movement away from his designated location, Gervonta Davis was promptly arrested, booked and placed into jail in Baltimore where he remains.
Michael Tomko, who is apparently an experienced attorney, failed to alert the presiding judge (over Gervonta Davis’ case and sentence) of the boxer’s security issues, his stay at the Four Seasons hotel and reasoning for purchasing a mansion throughout. Judge Althea M. Handy quickly caught wind of the situation and immediately decided to transfer Gervonta Davis towards jail.
After receiving his renewed jail sentence, Gervonta Davis hired a new attorney who attempted to overturn his sentence with an ’emergency’ motion filed on June 9th. In the motion, Davis’ attorney Andrew Jay Graham argued that it was Gervonta Davis’ former lawyer who ruined Davis’ house arrest sentence. He urged Judge Handy to reconsider her jail sentence due to concerns about Davis’ health as a professional boxer.
“Mr. Davis is at an important stage of his career where he must maintain a strict training regimen to remain at the top of his game. … Maintaining a strict diet and daily physical exercise plan with the active assistance of a professional trainer are critical to his professional success,” Were Graham’s words in the motion. “Mr. Davis is simply unable to do this in the confines of a state prison facility.”
Graham also apologized for a bitter rant that Gervonta Davis launched during one of his earliest stays in jail. During a telephone conversation with a reporter, Gervonta Davis attempted to explain why he was transferred to jail and didn’t endear himself to Judge Handy by calling her “crazy”.
Judge Althea Handy rejected the motion after it was filed and declined to set a hearing to consider Gervonta Davis’ release from jail. This virtually sealed his fate and now forces the boxer to remain in jail for the remainder of his 90-day sentence.
Judge Althea Handy had previously given a scathing rebuke of Gervonta Davis’ actions after handing down his house detention sentence, remarking that she felt the boxer thought he was above the law.
“He has been found guilty and been on probations, but it has not worked because he believes he is above the law.” Handy had said in court.
Davis remains in state custody though his exact location hasn’t been determined to security concerns. Ironically, by having ignored the conditions of his previous house arrest because of being unable to accommodate his security, Davis will now see out his sentence in jail; an environment that has left him without the protection he had wanted during his house arrest.
