Why the Plaxico Burress Sentence Is Not Excessive

If you have even a passing interest in sports, you have probably by now read something about Plaxico Burress pleading guilty and being sentenced to two years for illegal gun possession.  Burress, the New York Giants' wide receiver who two years ago caught the winning touchdown in the 2008 Super Bowl, was charged for carrying an unlicensed, loaded gun in his pocket into a night club.  While in the club, the gun went off and wounded Burress in the leg.

It was fortunate that no one else was injured; the bullet barely missed a club security guard, and was found embedded in the floor later that evening.  No charge for "wanton endangerment" was filed, but in my opinion could have been.  The weapon carried by Burress was unlicensed in New York or New Jersey, where he lives, and his Florida license had expired.

Many people have criticized the two-year sentence as "excessive."  The simple fact of the matter is that the sentence is less than what the law calls for in New York,, which is a 3 1/2 year minimum sentence.  Obviously New York takes carrying a loaded gun into a public place very seriously, which before that night Burress apparently did not.  What any other state may do is irrelevant; under our Constitutional system, each sovereign state is free to define and punish crimes as it sees fit. 

I think the New York prosecutor, Robert Morgenthau, and his assistant, Mark Dwyer, should be applauded for enforcing the law and not giving in simply because Burress is an NFL star.   Unlike the Scottish Justice Secretary who released a mass murderer last week, Morgenthau obviously believes in the rule of law, which is an all-too-rare quantity in these star-struck times.  Dwyer said that a two-year sentence is the minimum to which his office will agree in such cases, and Burress should be treated no differently.

In addition, Burress was clearly what I like to call "felony stupid" on many levels for carrying the weapon as he did. 

• If Burress was under any sort of threat, why did he go to the club, and if he had to go, why did he not rely on a bodyguard?  Surely Burress could have afforded to hire private security if such was truly necessary. 
• Why do NFL players, and other celebrities and athletes for that matter, expose themselves to criminal charges by doing stupid things, like this and like driving drunk, when there will always be help available to them?  Burress has lost two years from his career now, and, given the short shelf life of NFL wide receivers, has to be considered unlikely to resume his career once he is paroled.
• The weapon was not in a proper holster, but simply in his pocket, and a shell was chambered, i.e., in the barrel and ready to fire.  Anyone with any sense about guns should know better.  His permit course, if he actually took one, should have taught him better gun safety than that.
• A large part of owning and carrying firearms should include the responsibility to know the local laws and comply with them. I have a Kentucky permit, but some states accept it with reciprocity, and others do not.  Even with reciprocity some states have different requirements for how a gun can be carried.  When I cross into another jurisdiction it is my responsiblity as a gun owner to find out what the law is, and to comply with it.
• The efforts of Burress and his friends to "cover up" the shooting by not reporting it was also a violation of the law, although it was not charged as such.  Most of the time, however, the "cover up" can end up being worse than the original crime.

I am sorry to see yet another celebrity athlete fall prey to his own outsized ego and immaturity, and perhaps sacrifice not only his own career, but the fans' enjoyment at watching him perform.  At the same time, though, Burress' punishment will hopefully serve as an object lesson to other athletes, of all ages, that their skills at their chosen sport do not provide them with a permanent "Get Out of Jail Free" card.  More cases like Burress, and yes, Michael Vick, where the athlete does the time for his own stupidity, and fewer where athletes get below-minimum sentences for serious crimes, might just save some careers, and lives, down the line.

 

Comments

[Danielle]

Any sentencing is uncalled for, period. I don't even like Plaxico, but it seems like he will be in jail as long as someone who had dog fights. I bet there are guys who have murdered that got less time. Oh, I see, he didn't have a permit for that state - but if he had that little paper it would be okay for the accident - what....

[Trimble]

Danielle, I think the point here is that New York, as a sovereign state, made a policy decision to go tougher on gun law violations, and the prosecutor is enforcing the law, which is his job. The comparison between Burress and Vick is truly apples and oranges, because they committed their crimes in different jurisdictions. In the moral sense, perhaps carrying an unpermitted gun is not as bad as dog fighting (although I suspect some would argue that point), but our system and the rule of law do not make that sort of judgment.

If Plaxico was going to carry a gun, which he well knew was a licensed activity, it was his responsibility to know the laws, comply with them, and pay the price if he did not do so.

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