Plaxico Burress gets 2-year prison sentence

Peyton Manning

What an absolute idiot. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

NEW YORK -- Former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty Thursday to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub.

Burress pleaded guilty to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he initially faced. Under a plea agreement, he agreed to a two-year prison sentence and two years of supervised release.

Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years if convicted at a trial.

The guilty plea ends months of haggling between Burress' attorney and the Manhattan district attorney's office. The case went to a grand jury earlier this month after negotiations broke down, apparently because District Attorney Robert Morgenthau was insisting that Burress serve at least two years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Dwyer said it is standard policy to request a two-year sentence as part of a plea bargain on such serious charges. Sentencing was set for Sept. 22.

In a Manhattan state Supreme Court room on Thursday, the soft-spoken Burress, wearing a dark blue suit, first entered a not-guilty plea to the initial charges against him. After attorneys on both sides conferred, Burress said, "guilty" to the new attempted weapons possession charge.

His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said in court that the 31-year-old Burress was thinking of his family in taking the plea, although he questioned the recommended prison sentence.

"This was not an intentional criminal act," Brafman said. "In my judgment, a two-year prison sentence is a very severe punishment."

With time off for good behavior, the sentence could be reduced to 20 months.

Burress and former teammate Antonio Pierce were at the Latin Quarter nightclub in late November 2008 when a gun tucked into Burress' waistband slipped down his leg and fired, shooting him in the right thigh. The bullet narrowly missed a nightclub security guard who was standing inches away, prosecutors said, lodged in the floor and was recovered by a bartender.

The gun was not licensed in New York or in New Jersey, where Burress lived, prosecutors said. His license to carry a concealed weapon in the state of Florida had expired in May 2008.

Prosecutors said Pierce drove Burress to a hospital, then took the gun to his own home in New Jersey, where it was later delivered to Burress' home.

Pierce was not indicted. The grand jury also did not indict the nightclub security guard who carried the gun to Pierce's car or the hospital staff members who failed to notify police that Burress had been shot.

Burress, who caught the winning touchdown for the Giants against the New England Patriots in the final minute of the 2008 Super Bowl, also could face disciplinary action by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen reported that Goodell and Burress had met last week.

The Giants released Burress in April; he had yet to sign with another team.

kev_s88

deserves it for being such an idiot!!! glad he got what was coming to him!

eagle eye

Personally I think he suffered enough by shooting himself, would you not think thats a good enough lesson?

Hazys

eagle eye wrote: »

Personally I think he suffered enough by shooting himself, would you not think thats a good enough lesson?

Would you be saying that if the gun he was carrying around in the club accidently went off, misses his leg and shot some innocent bystander in the head?

Its illegal to carry a weapon in NYC, it carries a min 2 year sentence, he had fair warning, and he didnt care.

Lorcan 17

Very good player , but v silly. Think the Giants will miss him big time

eagle eye

Hazys wrote: »

Would you be saying that if the gun he was carrying around in the club accidently went off, misses his leg and shot some innocent bystander in the head?

Its illegal to carry a weapon in NYC, it carries a min 2 year sentence, he had fair warning, and he didnt care.

No I would not be saying it then, and even if he had hit somebody else in this instance as well as himself I wouldn't say it, but he only injured himself. I think that would be a huge lesson for anybody, and a very painful one at that. He has been punished by being injured, in this instance I would imagine that a large charitable donation would be much better than jail time.

Hazys

The reason for the law is to remove guns from NYC's street, it was a well publicised law whether he agreed or disagreed with the law he knew about it and still broke it and now has to deal with the consequences.

Guns are dangerous, Plaxico is lucky he shot himself in the leg and got a 2yr prison sentence and that he didnt shoot himself in the head, or some inocent bystander or got in a fight with somebody and murdered that person. All those reasons are the reasons for the law and the sentence it carries.

Oat23

26 days for taking a life while driving drunk, but 2 years for carrying a gun.

Didn't Plax turn down a deal a few months back where he would serve a few months in jail?

JJ

I don't think there was any few months deal ever on the table. NY has strict gun laws and they were never going to accept less than 2 years.

The Giants missed him late last year but I'm hoping with all the young WRs they picked up in the offseason that they'll help fill the void.

eagle eye

Hazys wrote: »

The reason for the law is to remove guns from NYC's street, it was a well publicised law whether he agreed or disagreed with the law he knew about it and still broke it and now has to deal with the consequences.

Guns are dangerous, Plaxico is lucky he shot himself in the leg and got a 2yr prison sentence and that he didnt shoot himself in the head, or some inocent bystander or got in a fight with somebody and murdered that person. All those reasons are the reasons for the law and the sentence it carries.

I think Plaxico realises how dangerous guns are now. What is two years in jail going to accomplish that shooting and injuring himself and losing his job with the New York Giants will not?
As I said in this particular instance a large charitable donation and even helping those who work to keep guns off the street would have been a much better way to go.
I'm not saying that what he did was right.

Rented Mule

eagle eye wrote: »

Personally I think he suffered enough by shooting himself, would you not think thats a good enough lesson?

There is a little sidenote to this story that no one is really going into.

Burress' lawyer is the very same lawyer who represented Sean 'puff dayy, p-diddy etc' when he was accused of shooting up a club. This lawyer got him off on the charge. Afterwards, this law was put in place as a direct result of Combs getting off.

Burress' lawyer indirectly helped put his client away for 20 months.

The actual law calls for a mandatory 3.5 years in prison. Burress is still getting off easy.

Chucky the tree

eagle eye wrote: »

I think Plaxico realises how dangerous guns are now. What is two years in jail going to accomplish that shooting and injuring himself and losing his job with the New York Giants will not?
As I said in this particular instance a large charitable donation and even helping those who work to keep guns off the street would have been a much better way to go.
I'm not saying that what he did was right.

It will make other people stop and think twice about carrying a concealed weapon in New york, especially if you're a celebratory. I mean what kind of message does it send out letting him away scott free? Do you think some ghetto thug from the bronx would get away with it? **** no. Oh no he lost his job with the giants, if he got off there would be another rake of NFL teams on the phone to his agent right now willing to throw millions of dollars at him to play. The point of prison sentences is to deter not only the person who committed the sentence but other people from doing it as well. If he did get off and a few weeks later someone does bring a gun out and accidently kills someone when they drop it wouldn't look very good for the DA office.