Plaxico Burress has plead guilty to weapons charges, and has agreed to a 2 year prison sentence, and a 2 year supervised release. This is all for shooting himself. To me this is hilarious. How stupid can you be? Think about it, you are going to jail for shooting yourself in the leg. The sentencing is set for September 22nd. Is there anyway he can return to the NFL? 2 years is a long time, but I guess if Vick can do it then he can too
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Anyone else think this sentence is REALLY harsh? I hate Plax as much as the next guy, but like Sec 202 said, he shot HIMSELF in the leg. He had no intent to hurt/kill anyone and didn't hurt/kill anyone (except himself). If I walk into a Manhatten Club on a Friday night, I bet I could find 35-40 illegal firearms. Does that make it right? No...But is it worth a two year sentence?
ReplyDeleteDante Stallworth killed a guy and spent, what, a couple weeks in jail? What am I missing here?
Is this the NYC DA trying to make a statement or get publicity?
This goes against everything I learned about athletes and the law. Normally, pro athletes/celebrities can get away with anything.
Maybe Plax should have offered the victim some cash to reduce the sentence. I'm sure it would have been accepted..
ReplyDeleteHe actually got off light. The minimum penalty for a concealed firearm in NYC is 3.5 years if convicted.
ReplyDeleteDante Stallworth also didn't try to cover it up, and apparently in Florida they measure the sentence on the likelihood of the accident happening if the driver wasn't intoxicated.
My prediction: Plaxico is out of jail by the end of this season and the Eagles sign him next year. Michael Vick will love it.
In this case, his celebrity worked against him. Bloomberg had a hard-on about this from the beginning and swore to make an example of Plaxico. Somehow I still think there are illegal guns in NYC. Plax should feel right at home- he always wanted to be a gangsta anyway.
ReplyDeleteTony Dungy has already signed on as Plaxico's mentor.
unregistered weapon, enough money to hire a body guard, doesn't have the safety on.....this guy should be doing 5-10 years. He could have killed someone. F Burress for ruining my NFL season last year.
ReplyDeletePlaxico committed a stupid crime by carrying an illegal weapon in NYC and then gave rise to a pure "crime of stupidity" by firing it into his own leg, thus getting caught.
ReplyDeleteHis sentence has nothing to with sports, money or celebrity and everything to do with jurisdiction. Manhattan has come a long, long way in cleaning up the trash that used to infest the island - and much of it has to with tough nuisance laws like this one. I (a proud gun owner by the way) applaud them.
Glove- This is clearly an example. I understand they are trying to clean up an obnoxious city but he more than likely would not have been arrested if he wasn't a celebrity. Bloomberg knew the world was watchin...
ReplyDeleteCurious to why Plax seemed so accepting to it. I know he would have lost and would have gotten 3+ years if he lost but im suprised there wasnt a way around it.
Doc...so you are trying to tell me that if it were some 2-bit, crack-dealing gangster in this situation - "he more than likely wouldn't have been arrested"?
ReplyDeleteI still see this purely as a case of jurisdiction and enforcement. Plax carried and fired a gun within a very, very gun-unfriendly borough of NYC. I really think that anyone, regardless of celebrity, would have faced the same fate. Consistent enforcement of laws like these have helped earn NYC the lowest crime rate among the ten largest cities in the United States (as of 2005).
I do agree with you, however, that Bloomberg is publicizing this and trying to "make an example" of Plax - as he should IMO. He does know the world is watchin' - but he also knows that many of those gangsta's (wannabe and otherwise) are too. Maybe (likely - as crime stats prove) this will make them all think twice about heading into Manhattan strapped.
Plax (and his high-priced lawyers) knows how consistently tough NYC is about this stuff - which is why he accepted the lower deal. He didn't try to find a way around it - because there simply was no way to go.
This made the news because of who he is. The NYPD didn't know it happened until the Giants reported it to them, the next day, after Plax told the team.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it seems like Sal Pal reports on "2-bit, crack-dealing gangsters" with all he is doing on Vick and Burress (and previously Pacman), I don't think a gangster shooting himself in the leg would make ESPN. In a similar situation - a gangster does not get arrested because the police would not know about it.
The club knew he was strapped, and initially turned him away before letting him in because Plax said he had to protect himself. Him being a celebrity, I'm sure, influenced that decision too. The club also knew he was shot - and yet the police still didn't know.
I agree though, that if a gangster was "caught" with an illegal firearm he would have gotten a similar punishment - I am just saying the police would never have known.