Posted by orangeblobman:

^I actually didn't bring up race, at all....I don't know why you think it was me lol.

Crazy stuff, overall, if any one of you ever kills a man while drunk driving, please try to post here after you get sentenced for 20 years.

[Edited by - orangeblobman on 06-16-2009 10:27 PM]

see leonard little, nfl player... being drunk is for some nutty reason almost used as a mitigating factor in vehicular homicide. most folks who drive drunk know its against the law, know that they may be injured or worse, cause injury or worse to others, yet still do it. how that means you could/should get a lighter sentence is lame. ive seen reports the victims family is ok with this (money is involved to prevent a civil suit). maybe if he ran over some dogs he would have gotten more time.

As Supreme Commander already stated, the victims family also settled for a payment. So the victims family had a lot to do with this outcome.

Posted by Allanfan20:

It's all about being a pro athlete. If this were any normal Joe, they would have been sentenced for a very long time. It's obsurd.

again, I brought up the case of the man that killed malik sealy:

Blood tests indicated that at the time of the accident, Phengsene had been driving drunk; his blood alcohol content was 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit in Minnesota. He plead guilty to a charge of vehicular manslaughter, was given a four-year prison term, and was released from prison in 2003.[3]

Although his plea bargain in Sealy's death had not included a conviction specifically on the charge of driving while intoxicated, Phengsene had been convicted of drunken driving in a separate incident three years prior to his fatal collision with Sealy. After his release from prison, Phengsene was convicted of drunken driving in a new incident in 2006. After serving a year in a workhouse on that conviction, he was freed and then was arrested and convicted of drunken driving yet again in 2008. This latest conviction garnered him an eight-year prison sentence.[4]

this guy was a regular guy, he was convicted of a DUI before he the accident that killed malik sealy where this guy was twice the legal limit. He served 3 years of a 4 year sentence, was released, he was convicted again in a new accident, served a year in a workhouse, freed and then arrested again.. then and only then did this guy do major time.... sentenced to 8 years...

Manslaughter cases can be tricky..

Posted by EnySpree:

Talks of having "a good lawyer" and other bull**** is totally retarded. This sucks...still Mike Vick did have an underground business going on. He deserved something. This Dui cause death of a human being...30 days????

Orangeblobman brought up race...it makes you wonder. Why didn't they throw the book at this guy and make an example out of him?

Same question I ask about guys with substance abuse....how could you be a crack head(that baseball player) and a crystal meth addict(birdman nba) and be given a chance. Guys in the nba get passed on just because they had a "rep" for being friends with street goons. Guys can lead the big east in scoring and not get drafted (Jamel Thomas, Telflair's brother)....

Whatever you know....the guy will have to live with the manslaughter all his life and that is punnishment enough...the incident can't be undone and there is no use calling for blood since it can't bring the lives back.

Give me a ****in break.....If I skateboard drunk and run over a bird I'm going to jail for 2 years.....

I haven't been home yet to catch the coverage.....are they going insane about it like how they did with Mike Vick or are they just non-chalant about it?

to be fair Eny, Vin Baker was given all number of chances in the NBA too even after multiple violations of the drug & alcohol policy & Mike Tyson only got 3 years in jail for a rape conviction & was still able to return to boxing & make many millions of dollars after he returned... both Josh Hamilton & Birdman were kicked out of their respective sports for a while & had to make their way back, neither were given any preferential treatment... to their credit they were able to put that mistake behind them & return better than ever... neither of those guys ever killed anyone, raped anyone or abused animals for profit, which i think is fair to say are the more heinous crimes to commit.

i don't think race has anything to do w/this situation... it's all politics... the animal loving public were all lobbying to have an example made of Michael Vick because he was a big name & a big figure while Donta Stallworth got off relatively easy in this case after killing someone while driving drunk & will be eligible to play in the NFL again after he serves his sentence most likely... if that dude had killed someone in my family for driving drunk i sure as hell wouldn't be happy about him getting only 30 days of jailtime for it.

both players are black... Pete Rose has been denied HOF induction & kicked out of the game forever because of his gambling on games... while he didn't serve any jailtime i think it's fair to say he got just as bad if not worse a punishment from his league governing body as those other guys got from their respective leagues when his crime was not nearly as severe.

now i'm the last person to think that race doesn't play a part in determining double standards in certain situations u come across, but i don't believe it applies in these cases... whether Michael Vick if he were white may have been given a less stern punishment is debateable, but i can't imagine a white player getting off much easier than Stallworth for the crime he committed... if there was an example u can point to that contradicts what i just said then feel free to debate me on that one.

What you guys are missing is a very big aspect called "obstruction of justice"!

Pete Rose went to jail for tax evasion. He is denied HOF for years of denial and cover up. Given this is not a criminal act, he should be in the HOF. He has shown remorse only to get into the HOF and has been arrogant as hell on the issue for years. Its baseballs call.

If Pete was black this would be a race issue.

Mike Vick is being compared here and what is really not being talked about is the reason why he got jailed. Obstruction of justice. That is what put Martha Stewart in jail. Feds take that very seriously and in both cases they were far more serious crimes then the actual infraction they were charged with.

This guy stopped and did all the right thing. He does not have priors. The guy hit was crossing a six lane road. It was an accident. The driver was impared but it is not determined it was the cause. If he was texting would it be a heavy crime? Changing radio stations? Looking for a CD in the car? ALl things that distract us and reduce our reaction time.

Its not a race issue this time, but that he is an athlete? Again, he stopped, owned up to the situation and called his lawyer. The guy was smart and handled it correctly.

If he was not a pro athlete nobody would even know this story.

Make no mistake about it, he should not have been drinking.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

from what I understand Stallworth took responsibility immediately and told the cops then and there it was his fault. They worked out a settlement immediately to avoid a civil trial, which likely means Stallworth was generous out of the gate. He should definitely be held accountable but what's the point of destroying two lives from his mistake especially when he likely will be working in the community after this

There was also a question of the pedestrian and where and how he was crossing. Stallworth also wasn't weaving all over the place he was just driving despite being liquored up. He's also lost his license for life. He's under 2 years house arrest. Community service. Paid through the nose in fines and settled with the family. He's pretty much ruined.

Now, if he was doing 85 and mowed down a pedestrian in a crosswalk this is a different story.

There are obviously extenuating circumstances here that led to this deal.

To compare this to Vick and his sentence is a failure.

Posted by orangeblobman:

retarded

Coming in late to this thread. OBM, if you have nothing to add but this kind of post, refrain.

Posted by Allanfan20:

It's all about being a pro athlete. If this were any normal Joe, they would have been sentenced for a very long time. It's obsurd.

not true. miscarriages of justice run the gamut. Really depends on the jury, the jurisdiction...ext.

And yeah, like others have said, the family got paid. Money talks. They didnt push for punishment, if anything they pushed for leniency. Just sucks that a man's life is only worth 30 days in the courts eyes. People get more time for bad checks.

Also, dont think for one second that the victim being a Cuban immigrant didnt work in Stallworth's favor.