Posted on 09/22/2009 8:26:59 AM PDT by iowamark
Former Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for possessing a gun at a night club.
The former New York Giants star tearfully told his family goodbye as he surrendered to begin his prison stint for attempted criminal possession of a weapon after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh.
Burress was indicted on two counts of weapon possession and one count of reckless endangerment and pleaded guilty Aug. 20. He had faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years on those charges if convicted at trial. He pleaded to the lesser charge and agreed to the two-year term.
With time off for good behavior, Burress likely will serve 20 months. He will be monitored an additional two years after he is freed from prison, which could come as early as the spring of 2011.
The Giants released Burress in April, but the 32-year-old told ESPN he hopes to resume his NFL career when he completes his sentence.
Burress, who caught the winning touchdown for the Giants over the previously undefeated New England Patriots in the final minute of the 2008 Super Bowl, and former teammate Antonio Pierce were at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan last November when a gun tucked into Burress' waistband slipped down his leg and fired, wounding him.
The gun was not licensed in New York or in New Jersey, where Burress lived. His license to carry a concealed weapon in the Florida had expired in May 2008.
Pierce, who drove Burress to a hospital after the shooting, was not indicted.
Defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said Burress was thinking of his family in taking the plea, but the attorney questioned 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."
Gil Brandt, an analyst on NFL Sirius Radio and the former head of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys, said Burress won't be too old for a comeback when he's released from prison.
"First of all, Plaxico is a guy who keeps himself in pretty good shape," Brandt said. "Lots of times guys get heavy in the off-season. He is not a guy who has done that."
But Brandt intimated it could be difficult for Burress to reacquire his football skills after so much time on the sidelines.
"It's like a person who has gone to college or high school and drops out of school for two years," he said. "It is hard to reacquire your study habits. I think it is hard to reacquire the work habits you need to be successful when you have been away from the game for two years or so."
Seems extremely stiff.
But we are talking about guns in a lost Blue state after all....
I don’t think he’s gonna fit.
And all of that for doing nothing illegal (although shooting yourself in the leg is pretty stupid. . .)
What crap, I don’t like the guy, I’m an Eagles fan too, but what crap. Two years for shooting yourself!
So he goes from wide receiver to tight end.
This smacks of racism....arresting Plaxico Burress for exercising his 2nd ammendment rights? Didn’t Democrats create anti-firearm possession laws to prevent blacks from possessing firearms?
Two years in the confined space of a gun case. That would stink.
I’m sure every street thug in NY receives the same sentence, right?
Maybe the answer is “yes,” but that’s after the other charges of armed robbery, battery with deadly weapon and habitual offender are dismissed.
Burress will discover, in jail, the new meaning for “Go long” and “wide receiver”
Seems harsh for carrying a gun. Didn’t he shoot himself?
BREAKING NEWS: Kanye West interrupts Plaxico Burris’ shooting sentencing to proclaim Tupac had best shooting ever.
Disgraceful. why didn’t he hire NRA lawyers with the stated aim of invalidating NYC’s gun law? I bet that would have gotten Bloomberg & Co. to give him probation.
This is out of line!
“Justice” served in LibVille, where child molesters do less time than this.
He wins the Super Bowl, a few months later shoots himself and is now doing two years! The highs and the lows!
John Kerry shot himself and ended up...
Yes, that was the way in much of the Old South, but as I understand it, in places like New York, it was done to keep the guns out of the hands of any who opposed outfits like Boss Tweed and his Tammany Hall bunch.
It also shows New York's disloyalty. Plax catches the game winning TD catch in the Giants' first SB win in 17 years and they deny him a permit. Meanwhile they give David Wright of the 3-time choker New York Mets a permit.
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