Plaxico Burress, Donte Stallworth, and Michael Vick. These three have all had a run in with the law.  Yet, justice seems to have worked oddly for them.  This has me sitting here wondering, who got off way to easy, and who got the raw deal?  Let’s first recap what happened to each of them:

Michael Vick – He was tried in court on financing and taking part in an illegal dog fighting enterprise.  He plead guilty, paid the government a boat load of money, and spent two years in jail (6 months of that time on house arrest).  He has now been conditionally reinstated to the NFL and will probably play as early as week 4 in the NFL season.

Donte Stallworth – He was driving under the influence in Miami Beach and hit and killed a man crossing the street.  He was charged with vehicular manslaughter, paid the family a lot of money, served 1 month in jail, and has been suspended for the entire 2009 NFL season.

Plaxico Burress – He was hanging out in a night club in New York when his pistol, tucked in his waistband, slipped down his leg and inadvertanly fired, injuring his thigh.  He was arrested for having a concealed weapon and will serve 2 years in prison.  He will not be suspended by the NFL any further.

Now, if you take a look at these situations, the crime and punishments don’t really match on any of them.  Vick’s is the closest, longer jail time should probably have been in order, but that was about it.  The other two, seem like the punishments were swapped.

Let me generalize the events of the two players in order to make my argument sound better than yours: Plaxico Burress will spend 2 years in jail for shooting himself in the leg, Donte Stallworth spent 1 month in jail for killing another man…….doesn’t sound right.  I understand the punishment for having a concealed weapon (although Cheddar Plax did have an expired concealed weapon license from Florida, doesn’t that count for something???) but it seems like 2 years is way too harsh, especially considering there was no altercation involved or no attempt of harm by Plaxico, he shot himself, by accident, that’s enough of a punishment in my opinion, maybe a fine also for not having the license.

Stallworth, on the other hand, killed a man while driving drunk.  In Florida, judges put people away for 20 years for that kind of offense.  I don’t understand how Stallworth got off so easy.  I especially don’t understand how the family agreed to the terms (I didn’t even know that families could intervene that way when it comes to Judicial decisions).  It just seems that Cheddar Plax should have Stallworth’s sentence, and Stallworth should be serving Cheddar Plax’s sentence.  Crazy world we live in, huh?

Related posts:

1. Vick and Favre: Can they Both Return to Greatness
2. The Mike Vick Experience v 2.0