On August 20, 2009, Plaxico Burress was given a two-year jail sentence that began on September 22, 2009. Let's think about that for one minute. A man goes to jail for two years for accidently shooting himself? Again, the keywords in statement are accidently and himself, and that warrants someone to get the same jail time as Michael Vick and far less than Donte Stallworth? God forbid if he tried to shoot someone else in that nightclub, he might would have gotten much, much more.
First of all, setting all personal feelings aside, but Michael Vick's 18-month sentence was fair. He took part in an illegal activity where he bred dogs with the intent to kill other dogs, and if they did not perform well to expectations, the dogs were tortured to death. The legal process seemed to do good for him, however, as he is trying to rebuild his image to pre-2005 status (before Ron Mexico, the water bottle incident, and giving Falcon fans the new meaning of "Dirty Bird" by flipping two middle fingers to them), again, one can only hope that he recovers fully from this.
Next, the Plaxico Burress case was unfair from right off the bat. He was going to actually get three years of jail time, because he was going to be made an "example" out of? Seriously, be real...how do you make an example of someone who shoots himself? That's basically adding insult to injury (sorry for the pun). Granted, he had an unlicensed gun in New York, but no one would have known about it if it go off. Also, I do not think that he was going hunt someone down in the club either, he was using it for protection from himself. Come on, he caught the game-winning catch in Super Bowl XLII and is one of the more famous athletes in New York City. Obviously, he was being smart because anyone could have robbed him.
Last but not least, is the Donte Stallworth ordeal. People instantly knew that he was going to get major jail time after having alcohol in his system and striking a pedestrian in the streets of Miami. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and only served 24? What a joke of the legal system! Killing dogs gets you 24 months, but not paying attention and killing someone gets you 24 days? Granted, the pedestrian did not cross the street at the assigned spot and essientially jaywalked, but Stallworth was clearly drunk (0.12 BAC), speeding (doing 50 in a 40), and was not paying attention. At least, he claimed to warn the man, or it could have been much worse.
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