Donte Stallworth

[barrett]

Stallworth just got 30 days in jail for KILLING someone while driving drunk. Apparently the lower sentence was influenced by the fact that he had already reached a financial agreement with the family of the victim. And this is apparently normal practice for a sentence to be shorter if the settlement is reached ahead of time. Unbelievable. You should get more than 30 days for drunk driving without hurting anyone.

[superbowlbound]

wow. america sucks. That's unbelievable. Plaxico is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years for having a gun in a club, and stallworth gets 30 days for killing a guy. Only in America.

[dadmg]

Originally Posted by barrett

Stallworth just got 30 days in jail for KILLING someone while driving drunk. Apparently the lower sentence was influenced by the fact that he had already reached a financial agreement with the family of the victim. And this is apparently normal practice for a sentence to be shorter if the settlement is reached ahead of time. Unbelievable. You should get more than 30 days for drunk driving without hurting anyone.

Stallworth was also facing a mandatory minimum of four years for his initial charges...presumably the plea was to lesser charges.

It should also be noted that after the month in jail, Stallworth will also spend an additional two years under house arrest. Obviously, that's a considerably lighter sentence than he was facing, but two years house arrest isn't trivial, either.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by dadmg

Stallworth was also facing a mandatory minimum of four years for his initial charges...presumably the plea was to lesser charges.

It should also be noted that after the month in jail, Stallworth will also spend an additional two years under house arrest. Obviously, that's a considerably lighter sentence than he was facing, but two years house arrest isn't trivial, either.

He's just lucky that he didn't kill some dogs while he was driving drunk. That would have been 2 years in prison easy.

[dadmg]

Originally Posted by barrett

He's just lucky that he didn't kill some dogs while he was driving drunk. That would have been 2 years in prison easy.

Far be it from me to defend drunk driving, especially drunk driving with such tragic consequences, but I don't see equivalency between one night of utter rank stupidity and carelessness to years of willful covert operation of a massive dog-fighting ring (let alone the 'getting his hands dirty' aspect - killing dogs by his own hand - that gets a lot of people). Donte Stallworth's crime was awful and he should be punished but comparing it to Vick's is really apples and oranges. A better comparison to Vick would probably be some of the frequent wife-or-girlfriend beaters who remain perpetually employed by their clubs because their skills are great enough and/or the NFL and sports media don't really want to draw more attention to some of the violent things their athletes do off the gridiron. With this group there is the same level of intent and, with at least a couple, the long-range perpetration of horror.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by dadmg

Far be it from me to defend drunk driving, especially drunk driving with such tragic consequences, but I don't see equivalency between one night of utter rank stupidity and carelessness to years of willful covert operation of a massive dog-fighting ring (let alone the 'getting his hands dirty' aspect - killing dogs by his own hand - that gets a lot of people). Donte Stallworth's crime was awful and he should be punished but comparing it to Vick's is really apples and oranges. A better comparison to Vick would probably be some of the frequent wife-or-girlfriend beaters who remain perpetually employed by their clubs because their skills are great enough and/or the NFL and sports media don't really want to draw more attention to some of the violent things their athletes do off the gridiron. With this group there is the same level of intent and, with at least a couple, the long-range perpetration of horror.

killing a human is obviously worse than killing a dog, so on the surface it seems like Stallworth's sentence should be longer than Vicks's (and it's easy to make a case for it). The difference is that Vick's animal cruelty charges were only a small part of it. He was also facing an assortment of organized crime charges. Running a gambling operation, tax evasion, etc. There were many many counts of each. Stalworth made one bad decision and accidentally caused a death. It's a terrible terrible thing, but Vick was prosecuted under federal laws that were designed to shut down the mob in which they had years and years of evidence of his crimes. I'm not defending Stallworth at all. Just pointing out why there seems to be such an imbalance in the sentences that he and Vick received.

[barrett]

I know why the imbalance was there and recognize that it was federal vs local handling the cases.

I also agree it is apples to oranges since we are talking about people and dogs.

[NBT]

Stallworth also will have to do 8 years of probation. 6 years after the 2years house arrest. The commisioner says he will still remain suspended as far as the NFL is concerned.

[superbowlbound]

and this just in, Stallworth tested positive for the hippie lettuce following the accident. Crossfaded driving is the worst kind, believe me.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by barrett

I know why the imbalance was there and recognize that it was federal vs local handling the cases.

I also agree it is apples to oranges since we are talking about people and dogs.

It's not the fact that it was federal vs. local it's the fact that Stallworth was facing one charge (or a handfull) and Vick was potentially facing hundreds. Every dead dog they found was another count of animal cruelty. Every time they held a fight at the house it was another gambling/organized crime charge + the tax evasion charges to go with.

Stallworth also apparently manged to convince the judge that he was truly sorry for what had happened while Vick appeared to have the attitude that he couldn't understand what the big deal was at least initially.

I'm not defending Stallworth at all here either, but people keep making it a kill a person vs. kill a dog thing. When Vick's case was as much about the illegal gambling that had been going for years as it was the dogs.

[Nconroe]

jmho, Stallworth off to light, Vick a little harsh but ok, and Plexico to harsh. or if I had to rate the crimes worst to least it would be Stallworth, Vick, Plexico. I'm sure some disagree with relative harm of the crime. If "I didn't mean to do it and I'm sorry" was an excuse I am guessing jails would be a lot emptier.

[barrett]

I'm not just talking about the sentences but also the public reaction to them. After serving two whole years in Jail Vick will now be protested when he tries to go to work. Stallworth will face no such public outrage because Drunk driving is acceptable to half the country.

So I agree that Vick's sentence was warranted, but he my point is he was not allowed to get out of anything by "making restitution to the dog's families." The fact that Stallworth got off light BECAUSE HE PAID MONEY is disgusting. It's a shame a judge and the surrviving family members can get together and put a price tag on a man's life even though he is gone and has no say.

As for Burress, when you use a gun as a fashion accessory/toy, you deserve whatever you get.

[popanot]

Stallworth got off light because the guy he killed may have jaywalked and ran out into the street, thus, not giving him sufficient time to react. The last report was the guy was trying to catch a bus and darted out into the street far away from any light or crossing zone. I'm not justifying Stallworth's actions or for being a dumbass and drinking/drugging and driving, just that there may have been reasonable cause to suspect that the person killed may have been partly to blame. That might explain the reason why the family was willing to cut a deal and ask the state to show leniency. It's a pretty screwed up system in Florida were they allow the legal process to be bypassed like that.