DownSwinging.com

Two days ago, former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was handed down a two-year prison sentence in a New York City courthouse. Burress, now infamous for his actions last fall, was immediately escorted out of the court room to head to Rikers Island.

Burress is being sent to prison on accounts of criminal possession of a weapon, after carrying a pistol in a night club that was unregistered in the state of New York or New Jersey. He previously had a license to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, but that license had expired.

Burress narrowly avoided tragedy. The gun slipped out of his pants where it was stowed, hit the floor and fired, hitting him in the leg. Not only could the bullet have hit him in the femeral artery had it been shot a few inches higher, but it also came very close to hitting a security guard at the club. So while the only injuries in this crime were relatively minor ones to Burress, disaster was very close.

But what I want to point out is that from a legal standpoint, Burress’s crime wasn’t that great. There were no fatalities or injuries to anyone besides the perpetrator, so the lone crime is criminal possession of a weapon. And what really matters is that had Burress not been famous, he would not have faced nearly the prison time or punishment that he has to undergo now. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg made a point that he wants to crack down on illegal firearms in the city and that they were going to pursue convicting Burress in full force. But like I said, had he not been so famous, his sentence wouldn’t have been nearly as great.

Normally we see the opposite problem. Athletes use their wealth to either hire the best lawyers to get themselves out of a jam, or use it to strike a plea bargain with a victim to lessen their punishment (i.e. Donte Stallworth). This time, it worked against the athlete. And hearing the reports, I actually felt quite a deal of sympathy for him, hearing how he asked permission to return to his family to say goodbye one last time, it reminded me that this man who did a stupid, stupid thing, was still a person, just like you or I. Obviously the nature of our legal system (which relies on funds so heavily) will never allow this, but what I would hope is that athletes and celebrities should be treated like the rest of us, facing no less penalty and no greater than anyone else.