The Nexus

With the characteristic brilliance of modern-day pop stars, a number of NFL wide receivers have shown America how to ruin a sports career, all within the past two months. After committing various crimes, two players’ names in particular will forever be tarnished.

They have served or will serve jail sentences. Unfortunately, these sentences do little more than deflate a couple of egos.

Instead, these sentences point out a gaping hole in America’s state justice systems, as these men received ridiculous jail times that do not accurately reflect the severity of their crimes. The severity of crimes needs to be fair in all states across America

The first criminal is New York Giants Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress, who was found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm in the state of New York. While in a nightclub, accidentally shot himself when he tried to catch his concealed gun before it fell from his belt and hit the ground. He was rushed to the hospital and arrested soon afterwards.

Talk about bad luck.

Next is Cleveland Brown Donte Stallworth. While drinking and driving in Miami, he hit and killed a pedestrian. He pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter this summer.

Obviously Burress spends less time in jail than Stallworth right?

Wrong.

Burress is sentenced to two years in jail starting Sept. 22, whereas Stallworth is already out of jail, having spent just 24 days in the slammer earlier this summer.

Surprisingly, Burress was let off easy compared to other states’ sentence for illegal possession of a weapon. He could have had 3-15 years for what he did, which are sentences that are too long for his crime.

Stallworth got extremely lucky with his sentence as well. Had he been in Washington state, he would be looking at a lifetime jail sentence, and most other states would have given him 10-20 years in jail. So how can he only get 24 days in Florida?

Somehow, it was decided that a crime such as Burress’ is less severe than Stallworth’s. Burress will be in jail 24-times longer than Stallworth was, even though he wasn’t recklessly endangering someone’s life, killing a man, or driving publicly intoxicated. Why should he have to get the longer sentence?

Logically, Stallworth should have a much longer sentence than Burress, but just because he happened to be in Florida, he basically gets let off the hook.

Still, Stallworth has the greater burden to bear and that’s a penalty in itself: he must live with his guilt for the rest of his life. Stallworth doesn’t completely get a break after all.