Plaxico Burress, the former NY Giants wide receiver who accidentally shot himself in the leg with an illegal gun last November, will be sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to a weapons charge.By taking the plea, Mr. Burress, who turned 32 last week, avoided what would have been a mandatory minimum sentence of three and a half years in prison if he had been convicted at trial of the original charge against him, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Instead, Mr. Burress pleaded to an attempted weapons possession charge, allowing for the lighter sentence.
Mr. Burress, who will head to prison when he is officially sentenced on Sept. 22, will be eligible for release after slightly more than 20 months, his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said.
“This is a very sad day because I think a very good man, who is a brilliant athlete, is unfortunately going to spend 20 months in prison,” Mr. Brafman told reporters outside the courthouse. “After an agonizing period of discussion, Plaxico decided that he wanted to put this behind him as soon as possible.”
Mr. Brafman said he hoped his client could rehabilitate his career with the NFL. After the plea, the league said that Mr. Burress would be suspended for the length of his prison term, but that he could sign with a new team when he was released.
But, Mr. Brafman added, football was secondary in Mr. Burress’s mind: his wife is expecting their second child in November.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/nyregion/21burress.html
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