Plaxico Burress, former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants, will be doing 20 months in prison for pleading guilty to a lesser charge in a plea deal. Burress pleaded guilty of attempted criminal possession of a weapon. If Burress had not accepted the plea deal and taken the case to a grand jury, he could've done at least three and a half years if found guilty by the grand jury. Burress instead decided to take a lighter punishment, even though his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said that is still a severe punishment for the crime. Burress will be sentenced next month and will most likely begin his sentence immediately.
Upon learning of Burress' guilty plea and prison sentence, I was saddened by it. This wasn't something that should've been handled this way. New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg made matters worse by publicly stating that Burress would be prosecuted to the fullest extent. His public reaction was made to ensure the people that he is the best mayor for the city in an election year. That ended up hurting Burress. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau didn't help either by publicly stating that the grand jury will convict him. It was almost as this whole thing was fixed and the grand jury were instructed to indict him.
At the end of it all, Burress was done wrong by the city but there's nothing he can do now. He has to serve the time and hopes he can get back in the NFL when he's released from prison. He'll be 34 at that point, so there will be doubt as to whether he can still play. I believe he still would be able to play at a competitive level. Also, Burress won't face any further punishment from the NFL, which helps him a lot in finding a team quickly after he's released. I'm glad Roger Goodell came to his senses a little bit and decided Burress didn't need any more punishment.
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