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Is Plaxico Getting Celebrity Justice Treatment or Not?
By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 17, 2009
Modified Jun 17, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 17, 2009
Modified Jun 17, 2009
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Plaxico Burress's attorney claims that his client is getting no celebrity treatment from the Manhattan DA's Office. What's more, Plax's hotshot lawyer Benjamin Brafman suggests prosecutors should go easy on the football player after news that Browns receiver Donte Stallworth only received 30 days in jail in a DWI manslaughter plea deal.
Brafman was quick to compare the two. While illustrating the school of law that only compares cases with pro athlete defendants, the lawyer said, "Donte Stallworth...took a plea in a DWI case in which someone was killed and the jail sentence there was 30 days. In our case there is no victim. So I think I have a powerful argument as to why there should be a lenient sentence here."
Apparently looking at Plax in NFL terms is not just Brafman's idea, but it's a notion being floated around the prosecutors' office as well. The Post's Andrea Peyser reports there is a faction within DA Robert Morgenthau's staff that wants to settle Plax's case with little or no jail time. A source told her, "A lot of people think there should be a reasonable way to resolve this matter that doesn't end his career. If he loses more than one season, his career could be over for good...I can see a trial convincing some jurors that this wasn't serious. Especially if they're sports fans." (On a side note, happy fifteenth anniversary of the OJ Simspon Bronco chase.)
Brafman said that if there is any desire to give Burress leniency from the DA, he hasn't seen it in his negotiations for a plea deal. He said, "I would like to remind people that if this was not a superstar or a well-known athlete, he just walks out of the club, no one ever knows who it is and the gun gets tossed in the river...If he was just a kid on the street there'd be no case here because he only shot himself."
The latest word from Jets camp is that the team is apparently no longer interested in the possibility of signing Burress. Former Giants backup QB Tim Hasselbeck told ESPN Radio yesterday that the Jets couldn't get far enough away from the negotiating table fast enough. He said, "He's a disaster as a teammate. He's a disaster as a guy that you have to coach. If you want to wait for a guy to show up to meetings, if you want to have to beg a guy to run full-speed in practice, if you want a guy that would disappear in games because he doesn't get the ball early — then look, Plaxico Burress is your guy."
Tagged
benjamin brafman
celebrity justice
donte stallworth
gun charges
manhattan da's office
plaxico burress
robert morgenthau
shooting
Billy Parker
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