Baltimore boxing champion Gervonta Davis fires lawyer, apologizes for ‘emotional and ill-advised’ comments

Gervonta “Tank” Davis has hired a new attorney who on Friday filed an emergency motion seeking his release, stating the boxing champion did not intend to disobey a judge when he spent his house arrest for a 2020 hit-and-run at a Four Seasons Hotel and a $3.4 million penthouse condo that he bought in Silo Point.

In the motion, Andrew Graham, Davis’ new attorney, wrote that “any mistake or apparent disobedience” was not his client’s fault. Instead, that error was the result of the “lack of advice” that his attorney at the time, Michael Tomko, provided him.

“Mr. Davis should not be punished merely because his attorney failed to properly advise him,” said Graham, who added that his client did not have a written court order to consult. “Not only did Mr. Davis believe in good faith that he was permitted to change locations, he honestly believed that doing so was absolutely necessary for his safety.”

Davis, he said, also thought the moves were being coordinated with the house arrest program. Graham noted that a representative of ASAP Home Detention testified she was aware Davis had been staying at the hotel and condo.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Althea M. Handy sentenced Davis to 90 days of home detention plus three years’ probation for a hit-and-run that injured four people — including a pregnant woman — on Nov. 5, 2020. He was supposed to stay at the house of his coach and trainer, Calvin Ford, in Baltimore.

Last week, Handy revoked Davis’ house arrest after finding out he had been staying at different locations without court permission.

During a hearing, Tomko said the one-bedroom home could not accommodate his client’s security team and repeatedly told the judge to blame him for the mix-up.

Next, Tomko filed a motion for sentence modification. But Davis then called Handy “crazy” during an Instagram Live from the Baltimore Central Booking & Intake Center and stated he felt as though she was “taking advantage of me.”

The video has been deleted.

Tomko submitted an additional court filing and reported Davis’ mansion in Parkland, Florida, was burglarized and ransacked after his incarceration. Handy denied that motion for sentence modification.

In the new emergency motion for sentence modification, Graham asked the judge to reconsider her decision and stated that continued incarceration would have long-term consequences for Davis.

Graham said his client is at an “important stage of his career” and must “maintain a strict training regimen to remain at the top of his game.” Davis, he said, has family members and employees who depend on him for their livelihoods.

“Halting his training regimen for 60 days will cause him to regress physically and his future earning potential will be severely diminished as a result,” Graham said. “This could amount to what is effectively a fine of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in lost earning potential on top of the sentence the Court already imposed.”

Later, Graham noted that Davis takes “full personal responsibility” and “sincerely apologizes” for his “emotional and ill-advised public comments about the Court and its sentence.”

“They were an outburst that occurred as a result of feeling extreme frustration about being punished for acts that truly were not his fault, but rather the fault of counsel and undertaken based on counsel’s advice,” Graham said.

Davis, 28, grew up in West Baltimore and has a 29-0 boxing record with 27 knockouts. He said he was “definitely the face of boxing” after defeating Ryan Garcia this year in a lightweight bout in Las Vegas.

dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com