No "conviction." He pleaded guilty and get 30 days in jail, 10 years probation, and 1,000 hours of community service.

 

Also 2 years of house arrest, life loss of his licesene and around 5,000 in donations. I believe it was said he's giving 2.5 to 5 million to the reyes family. Plus figure proabbly 8 games to a year out of the NFL.

 

Well, Stallworth didn't try to avert the blame, to his credit.

 

Its been a while that I give credit to a Football player for being honest and not trying to avoid responsibility...

I value his character, at least he is not being part of the "Marshal Lynchs, and Randy Moss's of the the NFL world...

I mean TO never does anything wrong either (I know its another issue...)

 

I don't know 30 days in jail for driving drunk and killing a man seems pretty light. I'm glad he pled guilty because he sure as **** was guilty. I wonder if it wasn't such a pansy *** sentence if he would have done the same.

 

mike vick got 19 times the sentence for dogs...stallworth killed an actual human being...............................................................plaxico is looking at more time for hurting nothing/nobody but himself......this system is ****ed up

 

I believe part of the reason for this plea was because the guy was jaywalking( found the post http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/04/02/stallworth-team-hoping-for-dui-charges-only/ ) and the question comes up if this might have happened anyway(or something to that effect, I read it a bit ago so I'll try to find it again) and he is getting more then 30 days, 10 year probation and 2 years house arrest among the money lost and the time he'll spend away from the game and the fact he can't drive on public roads again. It's not equal but the famiily did agree to it so if they are ok with it then it's hard for me to be pissed(yes they got money but you figure they could have gotten the money in a civil suit as well) Still though it does seem light when compared to Vick(and I believe it was gambling charges, not the dog killing that he was convicted for)

 

Exactly what I was coming in here to post. Its funny to go back and read some threads about people all bent out of shape about Vick coming back, after serving his time in prison for fighting and torturing dogs.. etc...

Here we have Stallworth... breaking the law as well... driving drunk... and killing a PERSON... and he gets 30 days in jail, and 10 years probation...

What a joke... Complete joke IMO. I love animals and all... but its pretty pathetic that you can drive drunk, break the law and kill someone, and get 30 days in jail.... jeez...

:pity:

 

if the guy was jay walking then the blame by law lies on him at least in texas. In texas the most they would have gotten is a dui charge. This means 30 days in jail is pretty good for a first time offender of a dui charge.
I don't think what stallworth did was right, but I do not think this is an instance of the system being ****ed up.
and if we want to make the comparison to vick lets not forget he killed a **** ton of animals and basically ran an illegal crime ring. Thats some bad stuff IMO.

 

dog, human. it's all life.

like the poster up there said the family agreed to the ruling.

also you have to think about intent. vick meant to do that stuff to those dogs I don't think stallworth meant to do that to that guy. he shouldn't have been driving drunk (and he won't be driving at all anymore) and i think he did get off light.. but if the family agreed to it there's nothing i can really say about it.

about the jaywalking .. in the DE DMV book anyway.. when you are learning to drive regardless of where a person crosses or walks he automatically has right of way. so i don't know if it's different elsewhere; but i guess it is?

 

My understanding is pedestrians always have the right of way, but I mean, someone can't just jump out in front of your car and let their family collect the money if they die (not saying the guy jumped, I just don't know how quick it was for this guy to step into traffic vs when he got hit). I think had Stallworth not been under the influence, the settlement and penalties would have not been near as stiff.

 

The court system is messed up and DS should have been nailed on this. As far as POS Vick, he did what he did on purpose. To me, Vick is a much worse of a person than Stallworth.

 

He wasn't?

 

Some of my own thoughts:
As to the system being screwed up...
Bear in mind you are actually talking about two different systems. The laws of the state of Florida vs the federal laws of the USA.
Secondly, as mentioned intent is important. Vick purposely and continuously, over a substantial period of time, ran an organized criminal operation that, as a byproduct, tortured and killed dogs. It's not about "its just dogs". It's about an organization that existed for the sole purpose of committing crimes.
Stallworth's crime while serious has a certain level of empathy attached to it, IMO. It's something that could have happened to a lot of people at some point in their life. Drinking is not only socially acceptable, but encouraged as well. So even though Stallworth got drunk of his own free will and intentionally got behind the wheel of his car, people will forgive more readily because they can relate to the circumstances leading up to the accident. I don't mean to imply that what Stallworth did was no big deal - of course it is. Causing a death due to irresponsible behavior deserves punishment. But again in our culture heavy drinking is widespread and accepted. So it's no surprise that his penalty was relatively light.
But most people cannot relate to running a dogfighting organization.

 

then why would jaywalking be an offense? I read on another site talking about this where someone said in Virginia a similiar thing happened minus the drunkeness and the guy walked away with nothing because the person was unsafely trying to cross a 4 lane road

 

I don't see how anyone can compare Stallworth's character to Mike Vick's character... at least he manned up.

And I don't see how the "dogs, humans, same thing" comes up.

In this instance it surely is not the same... Mike Vick killed dogs, plural. No one is adding an S to Stallworth's case.

These things happen, you'll never prevent them. At least Stallworth didn't do a hit and run or say he didn't do like half the people in this world would do.

 

I don't know 30 days does seem light really any way you slice it. Its easy to say Stallworth 'manned' up when the prosecution gave him such a light sentence to 'man' up to. I'd have pleaded to that even if I didn't think I was responsible if I was facing 15 years with a jury trial.

He got this sentence because he had enough money to get the family to agree to the terms, he got off light because he is wealthy. How anyone can actually justify this system is beyond me, its not supposed to be about having money or not. If I did what Stallworth did I would have gotten a plea bargin in the range of 5-10 years, if I was lucky.

Its a sad end to a sad situation, I hope they can all get on with their lives but this resolution just goes to show the flaws in a system where the wealthy don't pay the same price for their crimes as the poor or middle class do. I don't think thats the intent of the system.

 

That's ridiculous. If you were innocent, you'd plead guilty and accept 30 days in jail, 2 years house arrest, 8 years probation, 1,000 hours community service, $5,000 in donations, and a lifetime loss of your driver's license? I'm sorry, but if I was innocent I would never accept a plea.

 

I didn't say innocent I said responsible, thats what a lot of people are contending, that while he was drunk the guy was jaywalking so he wasn't 'responsible' for running him over that it would have happened anyway.

 

He was crossing a busy street not at a crosswalk, so it is quite possible it would have happened anyways. Its why the law is written the way it is IMO, to take the responsibility off the driver and onto the pedestrian for making the concious decision to not cross at a designated area.

 

Yea theres some people that thought the prosecution might have lost the case, thats why I said I would have taken that deal if I was him, rolling the dice on 15 years versus 30 days isn't worth it if you're Stallworth.

 

Thats my thinking, which is why i think what the prosecution got is not the gross miscarriage of justice some are trying to make it seem like. The prosecution got:

1) 30 days in jail
2) a guilty plea to a felony, which means if stallworth gets into trouble again he will be in alot of trouble.
3) 10 years probation, , which means if stallworth gets into trouble again he will be in alot of trouble.
4) 2 years house arrest and 1000 hours community service.
I think the community service should be more, but I think all in all the prosecution did a good job of negotiating this one.

 

Well considering the family settled with Stallworth I think this is about all they could get. Just doesn't sit well with me that someone that is wealthy can buy justice, if Stallworth was just some guy on the street that plea bargin would have been a lot more jail time. The plea also ensures he can continue his career without a hitch, well at least after he serves a suspension.

 

The payment to the family had to do with civil case, not criminal. You could have got the same criminal result as Stallworth.

 

No way, the sentence and plea were done with the family's blessing if they hadn't made a settlement the plea wouldn't have gone down like this.