Stallworth’s “penalty”
In short, Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail for killing a human being:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-stallworth-pedestriankilled&prov=ap&type=lgns
There are other aspects… two years house arrest, eight years probation, lifetime suspension of driver’s license (although he can apply to have that lifted in five years), and drug and alcohol counseling.
But we talked about this before… Mike Vick killed dogs and has this public outcry to prevent him from returning to the NFL, after he’s served his 3 years (actually, it was more like 2-1/2… wasn’t it)? Obviously I’m not advocating dogfighting, and the associated torture and killing of dogs. But as I’ve said all along, as bad as it is to kill dogs, it’s worse to kill a human being. It just is.
And for killing a human being, Donte Stallworth will spend 30 *days* in jail. So… how long should I wait for the same public furor to face Stallworth as we’ve seen face Vick?
Just curious.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
When comparing to Vick, on of the main issues you are missing is the acceptance of responsibility. Had Vick handled the situation similar to Stallworth, he possibly could have avoided jail time altogether.
Clearly in any rational “Human” mind would conclude that Stallworth was far more in the wrong than Vick, and deserves a much harsher penalty than #7.
I said when this first happened that Stallworth would likely be playing football prior to Vick, and I stand by that. Vick’s biggest mistake was not the dog-fighting ring… it was lying to Goddell about his involvment…. when will these athletes learn that they can do whatever the hell they want as long as they say they are sorry if they are caught….
June 16th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
The article I read suggested that the family of the victim (his name escapes me) very much wanted the process wrapped up quickly. Whatever their reasons I think they’re entitled to have their wishes taken into account, which in this case means Stallworth gets off easily. The desires of the victim’s family shouldn’t be a major concern of the NFL, though, which should suspend him indefinitely in my view. It’s not at all in the interest of the NFL to be represented by people who get off with 30 days’ incarceration for killing people.
Shtiny typically raises a good point, too, which is that, in contrast with Vick, prosecutors seemed to believe that Stallworth genuinely accepted responsibility for what he’d done. It doesn’t undo it, of course, but it is very important both as a moral matter and a practical one since society has a much greater interest in incarcerating someone who is likely to commit further offenses than someone who recognizes they did something wrong and regrets it.
I think the volume of public outcry is a function of many clear differences in the context of the respective crimes.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I concede that Stallworth realized, and Vick didn’t realize that, the cover-up is always worse than the crime - or more to the point in these cases, trying to cover up the crime will only make it worse for you in the end. I suppose we should give Stallworth a little bit of credit since, as I understand it, he stopped as soon as he hit the guy, got out to try to help, was immediately forthright about where he’d been and what he’d been doing, and cooperated at every turn of the process. I only hope his regret is sincere, and he does what he said he would do in court (based on a clip that I saw), that he would spend the rest of his live focusing on letting people know about the dangers of drinking and driving. I don’t know how he’s going to accomplish that, but we’ll see if he truly makes an effort in that regard.
And Tank, you’re right… the wishes of the victim’s family absolutely should be considered - and in this case, apparently were. That is another mitigating factor in Stallworth’s favor. Being a natural cynic, I hope the family didn’t barter their outrage and morality for an extra few thousand dollars in the settlement in order to help Stallworth get off lightly. In other words, was there some sort of discussion that if they got X amount in a settlement to avoid a civil suit they would also lobby the criminal court to go lightly? There’s no indication of that - but I just hope there’s also no truth to my admittedly negative view of the possibility.
So how long does Goodell suspend Stallworth? I’m with Tank on this - should be lifetime ban… period. And if Stallworth is truly regretful about taking a human life, he’ll understand and accept the decision as easily as he accepted the criminal court’s decision.
Fwiw, when Leonard Little drove drunk and killed an innocent human being in 1998, Paul Tagliabue suspended him a whole four games. Yup - the same suspension given a steroids offender. Uh-huh… I can see how the two call for the same punishment… right. I trust Goodell will not make the same mistake.
Btw, Wikipedia offers the following info on Leonard Little and his drunk driving issues:
“Manslaughter Conviction
After leaving a birthday party drunk in 1998, Little crashed into and killed Susan Gutweiler in St. Louis, MO. When tested, his blood alcohol level measured 0.19 percent, a level that exceeds the statutory level of intoxication of 0.08 in the state of Missouri. Little received 90 days in jail, four years probation and 1000 hours of community service.
Second arrest
Six years later, in 2004, Little was again arrested for drunk driving and speeding.[5] The probable cause statement filed by police said Little had bloodshot and watery eyes, smelled of alcohol and failed three sobriety tests. [6] Because of Little’s 1999 guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter in his drunken-driving crash case, prosecutors charged him as a persistent offender. This made it a felony case.[6] Little was acquitted of driving while intoxicated, but was convicted only of the misdemeanor speeding charge.”
I don’t recall the specific details of the case, but my guess is that Little was not as forthcoming as Stallworth nor was the family of the victim as eager to see things settled (though I could be mistaken) and… that led to… 90 days in jail. Three whole months… for killing a human being.
As we can see, Little did *not* learn his lesson (and apparently unlike Stallworth, did not have his license permanently revoked) as he was caught again six years later, although acquitted of the charges.
As I think about it more, a day later… my real issue isn’t specifically with Stallworth, Little, the NFL, or PETA. My real issue is with a legal system that allows drunk driving to be such a mitigating factor in the death of an innocent human being that it’s considered involuntary manslaughter, and the “punishment” is measured in days… maybe months. That is what disgusts me most.
An innocent persons life is worth one to three months when the murderer covered themselves by getting drunk before operating a dangerous weapon. I don’t get it.