Thursday, September 24, 2009

Plaxico Gets 2 Years

Yahoo News reports on the story of Plaxico Burress's sentencing.
Former Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress apologized to his family and tearfully kissed his wife and young son goodbye Tuesday before he was led away to prison to begin serving a two-year sentence on a weapons charge.

Burress, at the time a star receiver with the New York Giants, was at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan last November when a gun tucked into his waistband slipped down his leg and fired, wounding him in the thigh.

The gun was not licensed in New York or in New Jersey, where Burress lived. His license to carry a concealed weapon in Florida had expired in May 2008.

When we discussed this last time I suggested that he not be sent to prison. I think this confused some of our pro-gun commenters who think I'm unreasonably against guns and anything to do with them. Actually, I don't think all gun crime should be punished severely and certainly not with prison sentences.

I think Plaxico was stupid, he made a stupid mistake. Although what he did endangered others, he himself was the only one hurt. To me it seems a terrible waste to put talented behind bars if heavy fines and strict supervision would accomplish the task of ensuring they don't do it again.

What's your opinion? What's accomplished by his incarceration? Phuck Politics said it was racial. Do you think that could be the case?

His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said previously that Burress was thinking of his family — including his wife and young son, Elijah — in taking the plea, but Brafman questioned the fairness of the recommended prison sentence.

"This was not an intentional criminal act," Brafman said the day of the plea. "In my judgment, a two-year prison sentence is a very severe punishment."

Before sentencing Tuesday, Brafman called Burress "a fundamentally decent man."

"This is a very real tragic case in many, many ways," Brafman said.


Defense attorneys will say anything. "This was not an intentional criminal act," is pretty funny, but calling the 2-year sentence "very severe punishment," seems right to me.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

11 comments:

  1. They had to send him to jail. States that don't have loose CCW laws almost always come down hard on those who violate weapons law. California is another state that will throw you in prison for violating weapons laws -- which is why it's a good idea to register weapons when they say you need to register them. Otherwise, you get caught with them later, you go to prison.

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  2. I think he should be set free and his glock sent to jail!

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  3. To me it seems a terrible waste to put talented [sic] behind bars if heavy fines and strict supervision would accomplish the task of ensuring they don't do it again.

    So if he had been an auto mechanic or teacher, it would have been OK?

    Do you ever have a serious thought in your head?

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  4. No TomB, never a serious thought except to thank you for that [sic] notation showing your grammatical superiority.

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  5. Can you answer my question? Are athletes and other "talented" to be given preferential treatment?

    Incidentally, I believe Plax got a raw deal, being personally targeted by that jackass, Bloomberg:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4029680


    Statistics show that more than eight out of 10 people arrested in the city last year on the same charge Burress faces received reduced charges, though some plea deals included jail time.

    Only about 14 percent of the people charged last year with the same charge that Burress faces were ultimately convicted of it, said John Caher, a spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

    Of the 1,248 people in New York City initially arrested on second-degree criminal weapons possession in 2008, 184 were convicted of the charge. About half were convicted of a misdemeanor or violation, and the remaining convictions were usually lesser felonies with some jail time.

    Prosecutors, in offering reduced charges in gun possession cases, consider past criminal history, arrest circumstances and the reason for having the weapon.

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  6. TomB, I think the only people who should be in jail are the ones who are violently dangerous when free. The purpose of jail should be to protect the rest of us from them. But since that's not happening anytime soon, as far as the severity of the sentence, yes I think talented people who have something of value to offer society should in some cases be spared the jail time and given extremely high fines if they can afford them and strict supervision. This way everybody wins.

    In my plan, I admit, the poor high-school dropout who works at the local car wash is liable to get a shitty deal while guys like Plaxico benefit.

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  7. "In my plan, I admit, the poor high-school dropout who works at the local car wash is liable to get a shitty deal while guys like Plaxico benefit."

    You're familiar with the statue of Justice, right? Lady with a blindfold holding a scale?

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  8. California weapon law has shown the way on gun registration. YOu either register your weapon or you do time for committing a felony: Having an unregistered weapon.

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  9. yes I think talented people who have something of value to offer society should in some cases be spared the jail time and given extremely high fines if they can afford them and strict supervision. This way everybody wins.

    In my plan, I admit, the poor high-school dropout who works at the local car wash is liable to get a shitty deal while guys like Plaxico benefit.


    Everybody wins, oh except for the poor high school dropout. And the accountant who isn't deemed "talented" enough. And the ... But really folks, its all about equality!

    And a month or two ago, I thought we had convinced you this was a stupid idea. Do we need to bring up that strippers are talented?

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  10. Reputo - MikeB thinks we should have one set of laws for "talented people" and another for the rest of us serfs.

    Exactly what I'd expect from a totalitarian liberal.

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  11. The more I read of Mikeb's "thoughts," the gladder I am that he isn't in charge of anything in the U.S.--that he doesn't, in fact, even live in the U.S., where he could inflict his vote on us.

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