Plax in prison

[ELCHALJE]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/what-plaxico-burress-life-in-prison-was-really-like/ar-AA14H1Hj?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=6a01fa91a3b5461a80a7b8b5ddb6dd10

[MightyGiants]

I really felt like jailing Plax was an injustice.   Just today, I read in the newspaper about a police sergeant who got drunk (over twice the legal limit), drove, and crashed into a stopped vehicle, nearly killing the driver (who suffered massive injury).   That sergeant didn't serve a day in jail (suspended sentence and probation) and was even allowed to retire from the police force rather than be fired so he could collect a pension.

When I compare that crime with the crime of illegal possession of a gun and shooting yourself, I don't know how that jail time was justified.

[Ed Vette]

Knowing what I know now about how law abiding citizens are a target based on gun laws, any person who did what he did would have served jail time. He didn't properly holster the firearm and for it to go off he had to have had a live round in the chamber if it was a striker fire weapon. That bullet could have killed someone. 

A legal firearm owned by an FID or Carry Permit citizen can be prosecuted for a number of reasons without even firing a shot. Just taking it across state lines can result in a prison sentence. That's why many gun owners have legal insurance.

At the time I thought he was targeted because of his high profile. I know better now.

What's really touching is how family and friends turned their back on him. One incident or one decision can alter the course of a person's life. Sometimes it's in our control and sometimes it's not.

[CVA14]

Jailing Plax was not the injustice. The injustice was giving the police sergeant a pass.

[kartanoman]

What's really touching is how family and friends turned their back on him. One incident or one decision can alter the course of a person's life. Sometimes it's in our control and sometimes it's not.

This is really the case of finding out who your friends and family really are. To learn that, on top of everything else he was able to process in the correction facility, takes it to another level. He made his mistake, paid dearly for it, and knows things will never, ever, return to the way they were before that gun went off.

Even the snide remarks he receives, regarding how that impacted the 2008 Giants, will never go away. I view that season a grave disappointment, in the manner it played out, as Philly would never have done to the Giants what they did to kick them out of the post-season. The Cardinals going to the Super Bowl ... are you kidding me? Not if Plax was there. So, that's the way it is, and we can be bitter about that, but why continue after all this time?

That Plax will forever live in guilt, because of what he missed out on the football field, is bad enough. That he found out who was real to him, in his life, was painful but probably necessary anyway. That he lost the most intimate moments of being a dad will haunt him forever. You'll never get that time back and that pain is very real and doesn't go away easily. I've missed special days in my daughter's life, due to business travel, and know how it feels.

In all honesty, it would be more of a privilege to get to meet Plax now, versus when he was still playing with the Giants, for the wisdom he has taken from a near grave mistake in his life. He appears to be very much down to earth, as well as a caring family man, and is sought after in the talk radio world these days. Most of all, he is a human being, just like you and I.

I choose to remember him, at the end of Super Bowl XLII, with his family near-by, in tears as he reflected on catching the game-winning touchdown pass and the magnitude of what had just happened. It was a beautiful moment, not just for him, but for Giants' fans for the ages. It is that moment that remains with me whenever his name is mentioned.

Peace!

[Slugsy-Narrows]

I really felt like jailing Plax was an injustice.   Just today, I read in the newspaper about a police sergeant who got drunk (over twice the legal limit), drove, and crashed into a stopped vehicle, nearly killing the driver (who suffered massive injury).   That sergeant didn't serve a day in jail (suspended sentence and probation) and was even allowed to retire from the police force rather than be fired so he could collect a pension.

When I compare that crime with the crime of illegal possession of a gun and shooting yourself, I don't know how that jail time was justified.

Welcome to the stupid gun laws out there that do nothing to prevent criminals from doing anything, yet over punish citizens who could/should have the legal right to carry!


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[madbadger]

Agree with the decision or not but according the the Supreme Court in NYSRPA v Bruen Burress had a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public. If it happened now he would have an avenue to appeal his conviction avoiding jail. One day hopefully he'll have his record expunged. Yes what he did was stupid and reckless but at the end of the day the only person who suffered from that decision was Burress.

[Slugsy-Narrows]

Agree with the decision or not but according the the Supreme Court in NYSRPA v Bruen Burress had a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public. If it happened now he would have an avenue to appeal his conviction avoiding jail. One day hopefully he'll have his record expunged. Yes what he did was stupid and reckless but at the end of the day the only person who suffered from that decision was Burress.

Correct!

It was an unconstitutional law!  Another reason we as citizens regardless of your beliefs need to ensure the constitution is followed and laws created don't overreach, today it's your 2A tomorrow it's another!  They won't stop overreaching if they know or think they can get away with it!

Now as Ed pointed out - him being a dummy for it not being properly holstered and it going off is an issue!  It isn't a crime though to be stupid, if so then we definitely don't have enough prisons!

He should challenge to get his record cleared!  Not that it gets him anything back sadly, but it at least takes the felony off his record.


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[MightyGiants]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating for the weakening of gun laws.  In fact, in light of the never-ending mass shootings, I would suggest the opposite. 

My point was if you consider that Plax's intent was not to rob or shoot someone, I felt the punishment was overly harsh.  To me, the punishment seemed more about political considerations (using a celebrity to make a point by punishing him more) than it was about ensuring justice was properly and fairly served.

[T200]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating for the weakening of gun laws.  In fact, in light of the never-ending mass shootings, I would suggest the opposite. 

My point was if you consider that Plax's intent was not to rob or shoot someone, I felt the punishment was overly harsh.  To me, the punishment seemed more about political considerations (using a celebrity to make a point by punishing him more) than it was about ensuring justice was properly and fairly served.

I agree; the punishment did not fit the crime. There was no ill-intent (murder vs manslaughter) but he was a big name to make an example out of.

Like @kartanoman, I view Plax in a positive light and did so even after he shot himself. Dumb decision and the consequences he suffered even before going to jail, were sufficient in my eyes. He's still one of my favorite Giants.

[madbadger]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating for the weakening of gun laws.  In fact, in light of the never-ending mass shootings, I would suggest the opposite. 

My point was if you consider that Plax's intent was not to rob or shoot someone, I felt the punishment was overly harsh.  To me, the punishment seemed more about political considerations (using a celebrity to make a point by punishing him more) than it was about ensuring justice was properly and fairly served.

On the second point you'd be completely wrong. The sentencing guidelines for illegally carrying in NY is mandatory. If he was given a lesser sentence it would have been the case of a celebrity getting special treatment regular people don't.

[H-Town G-Fan]

Agree with the decision or not but according the the Supreme Court in NYSRPA v Bruen Burress had a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public. If it happened now he would have an avenue to appeal his conviction avoiding jail. One day hopefully he'll have his record expunged. Yes what he did was stupid and reckless but at the end of the day the only person who suffered from that decision was Burress.

This is not correct. Bruen states that New York's requirement to state a proper cause for a concealed carry license is unconstitutional. Plaxico didn't have a New York (or New Jersey) license at all, and his Florida one had expired at the time of the incident. He was effectively concealing an unlicensed firearm and discharged it in a public setting. There's absolutely no basis to have his record "expunged."

[Slugsy-Narrows]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating for the weakening of gun laws.  In fact, in light of the never-ending mass shootings, I would suggest the opposite. 

My point was if you consider that Plax's intent was not to rob or shoot someone, I felt the punishment was overly harsh.  To me, the punishment seemed more about political considerations (using a celebrity to make a point by punishing him more) than it was about ensuring justice was properly and fairly served.

Making more fun laws will not end mass killings

Evil finds a way to commit evil.

We just had someone drive through a parade last year killing people.

Someone drove a rental truck down a bike path a few years ago, killing people.

In Europe where gun laws are far tougher then here they have had multiple mass killings with a knife.

You can rent a truck and drive down a NYC sidewalk killing more then you can with most guns.

It isn't the instrument used to kill that is the issue, it's the person commuting the evil acts!

When people focus more on the mental illness aspect and stop focusing on the gun as the problem we may be able to have the right conversations on this topic.


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[MightyGiants]

On the second point you'd be completely wrong. The sentencing guidelines for illegally carrying in NY is mandatory. If he was given a lesser sentence it would have been the case of a celebrity getting special treatment regular people don't.

I had to do some research to determine if this was correct.  From what I understand, based on my research, if Plax had been found guilty of his original charge he did face a minimum sentence.

.Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years if convicted at a trial

Plax pleaded to the lesser charge of criminal possession of a weapon

I found this:

I have a hard time understanding, however, why Burress was unable to secure a better plea given data  (reported here around the time of his arrest) that nearly half off all persons who plead to the lesser charge of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon — a crime that has no mandatory sentence — did not serve any prison time.

https://www.nj.com/giants/2009/08/former_ny_giants_receiver_plax_2.html

https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2009/08/plaxico-burress-cuts-a-plea-deal-requiring-twoyear-prison-term-for-his-gun-possession.html


@Slugsy-Narrows

They say that doing (or not doing) the same thing and expecting different result is the definition of insanity

[Ed Vette]

Making more fun laws will not end mass killings

Evil finds a way to commit evil.

We just had someone drive through a parade last year killing people.

Someone drove a rental truck down a bike path a few years ago, killing people.

In Europe where gun laws are far tougher then here they have had multiple mass killings with a knife.

You can rent a truck and drive down a NYC sidewalk killing more then you can with most guns.

It isn't the instrument used to kill that is the issue, it's the person commuting the evil acts!

When people focus more on the mental illness aspect and stop focusing on the gun as the problem we may be able to have the right conversations on this topic.


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NYC is now by order of the Mayor bringing mentally disturbed individuals to Hospitals for evaluation. Then won't be so easily releasing them as they have in the past. Decades ago mental institutions were no longer subsidized and closed. The Ill were all released to the streets. There is a need to have institutions for those with mental illness throughout the country and means to be able to diagnose them. The criminals also have a form of mental illness and they will always find a way to arm themselves illegally.