RSS
Home
US Judicial Branch, as bad as the economy or worst?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Cleveland Browns, a football team in the National Football League (NFL) wide receiver, Donte Stallworth has begun serving a 30 day jail sentence since Tuesday. Under normal circumstances Mr. Donte Stallworth should be serving 15 years for manslaughter, but somehow, he got let off the hook easy. Instead, Mr. Stallworth received a 2 year house arrest, 8 years of probation, and lost his driver's license for a lifetime (which is defined to be about 10 years by the US court system) in addition to his 30 day jail sentence. This was a very easy sentence in comparison to someone who was not famous for relatively the same charge.
In Palm Beach County, Daniel Espinoza had killed two people due to drinking and driving. At the time of the incident, Daniel was only 17, still being only a minor. However, circuit court Judge Gary Sweet showed no leniency towards age. Pleading, "no contest" to the charge of DUI manslaughter, Daniel awaited his judge's decision. At the time, "no contest" charges usually carried a maximum 10 year sentence according to DUI attorney William Moore. This was not what happened in Daniel's case though. He ended up receiving a 24 year DUI manslaughter prison sentence from Judge Sweet that "shocked" Attorney Moore's conscious who stated in accordance to the prison sentence, "Excessive would be an understatement."
Another case where a star or celebrity seemed to bend the rules for manslaughter was Leonard Little. On the night of October 19, 1998, Leonard had gone just 100 yards (the length of a football field) in his Lincoln Navigator only to run a red light and smash into Susan Gutweiler's Ford Thunderbird. Susan, who was 47 at the time of the incident, suffered the worst possible casualty, death. As for Leonard, who had just begun his rookie season that year for the St. Louis Rams, a NFL football team just like the Cleveland Browns, came out of the accident alive. At the time of the crash, Leonard had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) level of 0.19, more than double the legal limit of 0.08 in the state of Missouri. The incident occurred after Leonard had finished celebrating his 24th birthday with his NFL teammates the St. Louis Rams.
Leonard was sentenced a little more than one year after the incident. In his plea, Leonard agreed on being guilty to involuntary manslaughter and received a 90 day jail sentence, 1,000 hours of community service, and 4 years of probation. In addition to the court order, Leonard received a NFL notice forbidding him from playing the first 8 games of the 1999 season. Unlike Donte Stallworth, Leonard Little did not lose his "license for a lifetime" which eventually led to another charge in 2004.
In 2004, Leonard was charged again with a speeding and a DUI. Under normal circumstances, a DUI would be considered a misdemeanor, but due to Leonard's prior engagement with Susan Gutweiler, prosecutors insisted the charge be moved to persistent offender, which would make the misdemeanor a felony. If the Leonard had been convicted of a felony, he would have had a more serious case as felonies are crimes punishable in excess of one year. Instead, Leonard was only convicted of speeding which is a misdemeanor, the lesser of the two; felony.
Michael Vick was quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, another team in the NFL. He was indicted with interstate dog fighting and was sentenced to 23 months in a federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia. Vick also received an additional 3 years on other charges but they were suspended pending good behavior. As for Michael Vick's contract with the Atlanta Falcons, it had become terminated and Vick had to pay back $20 million of his $37 million signing bonus. Since May 20, Vick had been released to his home in Hampton, VA after serving 19 months at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. He must now serve the three years of "closely supervised probation," sentenced by Judge Hudson and currently undergoing bankruptcy.
There is a difference between Michael Vick and the other two professional NFL players, Donte Stallworth and Leonard Little. While both Stallworth and Little had killed human beings, Michael Vick had killed dogs. Even though Michael Vick had less serious charges such as killing dogs, he ended up with a longer sentence than both Stallworth and Little. The reason could have been Vick had intentionally killed the dogs while both Stallworth and Little had unintentionally killed a person. If that is the case, then the out for Daniel Espinoza should have remained parallel to both Stallworth and Little in regards to manslaughter. Instead, the outcome was an easy sentence for the NFL players and a very harsh one for Espinoza.
Perhaps there is no real logic to the system because if both Stallworth and Little had gotten off with easy sentences due to having fame and money, Vick should have gotten similar results. Rather, Vick is currently facing bankruptcy and lost his job due to his venture. This scenario has been an example of when the US Judicial branch has failed to fit the glove.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte' Stallworth is shown in a Miami-Dade County courtroom Tuesday, June 16, 2009 (AP Photo/Carl Juste, Pool)
Related Articles:
Comments
