Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress has pleaded guilty to weapons charges and agreed to serve two years in prison, bringing to an end a case that began last year when Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg in a New York nightclub.
Burress was indicted this month and would have faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years in prison if he had been convicted by a jury. He was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and one count of second-degree reckless endangerment."After an agonizing period of discussion, Plaxico decided that he wanted to do this, put this behind him as quickly as possible, in the hope that when he is released he will be able to resume his stellar professional football career," attorney Benjamin Brafman said outside the courtroom.
In the early morning hours of Nov. 29, Burress walked into the Latin Quarter Nightclub in Manhattan with a loaded, unregistered .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol in the waistband of his jeans. The gun went off accidentally while Burress was inside the club, and the bullet lodged in his thigh.
The Giants placed Burress on the reserve/non-football injury list afterward, and they released him following the season. With a release date some time in 2011, it's likely that the 32-year-old Burress has played the final game of his NFL career.
Read our NFL Twitter mailbag on the Burress case.
Plaxico Burress Saga
On April 3, the Giants released Plaxico Burress, ending his turbulent four-year stay in New York. Click through to see more on how Burress' relationship with the Giants unraveled.
Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images
David Tyree had the highlight reel catch of Super Bowl XLII, but Burress had the game-winner. It was easily Burress' top moment as a pro, but what followed was far less rewarding.
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
Unhappy with his contract situation, Burress skipped the Giants' mandatory 2008 summer mini-camp and then sat out much of the preseason with an ankle injury. Then, shortly before the start of the regular season, the Giants agreed to a five-year, $35-million contract extension with the disgruntled receiver.
Evan Pinkus, Getty Images
No mandatory mini-camp, no preseason, no problem. In New York's Week 1 win over Washington, Burress made 10 catches for 133 yards.
Seth Wenig, AP
In a stunning Week 6 Monday night loss to Cleveland, Burress scored a touchdown but was otherwise shut down, all part of a sub-par season that saw Burress fail to top 100 yards receiving in any game other than the opener.
Diamond Images / Getty Images
Burress had a bit of a meltdown in the Giants' Oct. 19 win over San Francisco. The NFL fined him $45,000 for his actions in that game, when he verbally abused an official and threw a ball into the stands. That came just two weeks after the Giants suspended Burress for their Oct. 5 game for missing a team meeting.
Evan Pinkus, Getty Images
In an easy New York win over Baltimore during Week 11, Burress tweaked his hamstring, which had him set to be inactive in Week 12 against Washington - until he suffered a more serious leg injury.
Kathy Willens, AP
Out at a club, just hours after it was reported that he would be inactive against the Redskins because of his hamstring injury, Burress suffered a gunshot wound to his leg - self-inflicted by accident.
Stephen Dunn, Getty Images
Burress surrendered to police Dec. 1 and was charged with two counts of illegal handgun possession after shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub. The Giants also suspended him for the rest of the 2008-09 season.
Louis Lanzano, AP
Burress found himself the subject of a lawsuit in late December, allegedly for striking a woman with his car. Then in March, Burress was cited for four traffic tickets on one stop - speeding, improper display of tags, improper lane change and improper window tinting.
Chris McGrath, Getty Images
Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Ha wow. I really do love America and that i have the chance to live here , that being said - man other countries have to look at us as a joke of a government and roll around laughing when we voice strong believe in our system. Here you can have a few beers, get plastered, and run down some bums and spend a month in jail but if you walk around with a gun that the government hasnt taxed then you get 24-36 months in jail. Hmmmmm.....
you got that right on the bugs nuts i was thinking the same damn thing
You mean like a foreign terrorist kills almost 300 people by blowing up a plane and gets released because "we feel sorry because he has terminal cancer". Now who's the joke!
Gee, him and Vicks, crybabies, feel like they deserve a second chance to make millions when most of don't even get one chance. Neither one is that talented. The Falcons did better without Vick. What does that tell you??????????/
*beliefs*
The sentence is NOT justified! People accidently shoot themselves with Registered & Unregistered guns all the time. It's in the papers on a regular basis. NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE GET JAIL TIME!
What made jail time neceassary in this incident?
Parents leave handguns unlocked and kids accidently shoot themselves or others, and none of them go to jail.
It is totally false to say that people who have unregistered weapons, discharge them all the time and never go to jail. That is a lie! I can tell you from personal experience, that people do get jail time (not every single case, but a lot).
And remember this, the weapon did not ACCIDENTALLY go off. A Glock has a trigger guard that makes that impossible. He had to have squeezed the trigger for it to go off.
He is going to jail because he deserves it. That idiot Dante Stallworth deserves much more jail time than Plaxico, that is true; But that doesn't mean Plaxico should get off light either!
oh shut up!
um, the law where he was carrying the handgun. You do realize that different states have different laws, right?
i simply do not uderstand that donte stallworth kills ANOTHER HUMAN BEING and gets a lousy 24 days in jail and Plax shoots himself, HIMSELF, and gets 2 years.........please someone explain..........
New York vs Florida
Hey y'all.....Stallworth gets 30-days because he settled with the family first. When you have a family settled case, when you go to trial, the judge will be more lenient, because the family of the victim is 'satisfied'. He does have the in-home to complete. Is this right? Hell no.
Plaxico's case is different because Manhatten has mandatory minimums for gun violations. You possess a(n unregistered) firearm that is discharged in Manhatten, you serve three years. Great law. Keeps Manhatten safer than Cincinnati (where I live). He actually is serving one year less than the minimum because of the plea.
Plax was already a convicted felon when this incident occurred. By law, he was not supposed to be in possession of a handgun due to his status. He screwed himself.
Becky.. I agree.. doesnt seem right does it!!! The justice system in this country is wacked...
How in the hell did he get more time than Stallworth? Burress shot his own dumb ass. Vick tortured some dogs. Stallworth KILLED a human being.
So much for the "justice" system.
US JUSTICE SYSTEM IS VERY FLAWED..THEY PICK AND CHOSE WHOM TO MAKE EXAMPLES OUT OF.VERY POLITICAL..I GOT CAUGHT WITH AN UNREGISTERED PISTOL IN FLORIDA(FIRST OFFENSE)AND RECVD 1 YEAR PROBATION AND 75 HOURS COMMUNITY SERVICE.....
are you people serious?? The sentence was so harsh because of the area that burress was in. I believe in NYC that you can't even have a registered concealed weapon even if you have a permit. It's just the laws of NYC. if he was in new york state or jersey, he wouldnt have got so much time. he wouldnt of gotten any time probably.
While I firmly believe what Burress did was wrong,
this sentence does seem excessive for a case in which
the only person he hurt was himself. I realize this isn't an excuse but he did have this gun properly
registered in Florida where he lives in the off-season.
I agree with you. He had to suffer the pain of the gunshot wound, the pain and embarassment of the news coverage and finally the pain of thie agreement. He should not be given time for something that may have happened versus something that did happen.
good job Ben..now bang him out for a half a mil...coulda copped out to 2 yrs w/ a court appointed lawyer