NFL Suspends Plaxico Burress After Guilty Plea
Another day, another suspension. After former NY Giant Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to gun charges today, the NFL suspended him, stating that he is "ineligible to sign with any team until he completes his prison term.
Unlike the Browns' Donte Stallworth who ran over and killed someone while driving drunk and got just 30 days in prison, Burress accidentally shot himself with an unregistered gun in a Manhattan nightclub and got two years in jail. With good behavior that will work out to 20 months.
Burress' lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said after the surprise plea Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court:
"After an agonizing period of discussion, Plaxico decided he wanted to do this now in the hope that when he is released, he will be able to continue his stellar career."
The prosecutors plea deal of two years expired today. While it's still quite a sentence to serve, Burress was actually facing a longer sentence if he would have allowed the case to go to court and was found guilty. Under New York's tough gun laws and with the airtight weapons possession case against him, he was looking at a mandatory 3.5 year minimum sentence.Brafman said, "There was no way out."
The timing of the initial incident in his career couldn't have been worse. Burress famously caught the winning pass for the Giants against the New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl. His stock was high. Now, who knows what kind of shape he will be in when he's released from prison.
The NFL released a statement today indicating that it had decided to suspend Burress:
"Commissioner Goodell said Burress will be reinstated and eligible to sign with an NFL team upon the completion of his sentence," said the league.
John Mara, co-owner of the Giants, called the situation a "terrible tragedy":
"When I think about what he threw away just by making some poor choices. "Hopefully it's a lesson for the rest of our players to learn. The laws in New York are pretty strict for this type of offense and rightfully so."
