Thursday, June 25, 2009

Timeout: 30 days? Seriously?

What is it going to take for our country’s judicial system to stop giving athletes and other famous figures special treatment?

By now, most of you have heard about last week’s sentencing of NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth.

How in the world does anyone get sentenced to only 30 days in jail for killing an innocent Florida pedestrian, while driving drunk, no less?

According to a New York Daily News article, Stallworth plead guilty to manslaughter while driving under the influence and was given 30 days in jail, two years of house arrest, eight years on probation, a lifetime driver’s license suspension and 1,000 hours of community service. Oh, but he can resume playing football while on house arrest.
What a joke.

Stallworth did cooperate with police and take responsibility for his actions, which I commend him for, but that doesn’t mean he should only get a slap on the wrist.
As part of the deal, Stallworth settled with the victim’s family by presumably throwing money at them.

I don’t know what makes me angrier, Stallworth only getting 30 days or him using financial means at the problem to solve it.

It seems like every other week, you hear about a prominent figure - mostly athletes - being arrested for drunk driving.

Then, of course, those athletes are right back out on the field playing their respective sports after serving a minor suspension or paying a fine.

Almost everyday, I hear public service announcements on the radio about police departments all over the nation cracking down on drunk driving. What that announcement is trying to accomplish is
completely overshadowed by cases like this.

By only sentencing Stallworth to 30 days, the Florida court has given defense attorneys throughout the nation an opportunity to request a lenient sentence for their clients.

How do you sentence Michael Vick to two years in prison for killing dogs and dogfighting, and you sentence Stallworth to only 30 days for killing a human? That just doesn’t make any sense at all.
There is no doubt in my mind that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ efforts to punish Vick as much as possible had something to do with his sentence. Vick deserved what he got, if not,
more, as no animal should ever be treated in that way.

But to penalize Vick like that for killing dogs, then give Stallworth less jail time for killing an innocent man with a loving family? Talk about unethical.
Maybe if I formed an organization for citizens against celebrity drunk driving, our judicial system would take this issue more seriously.

Because of Stallworth, the victim’s 15-year old daughter will now grow up without a father. There will be many more families in America doing the same if we keep allowing this happen.
Maybe if we didn’t let celebrities get away with things like this with a slap on the wrist, we could effectively combat the problem.

No family should ever have to go through that pain because of a single act of stupidity.