ex-ny giant plaxico burress pleads guilty to gun possession charge

yesterday former ny giant plaxico burress finally brought the long-running soap opera of his accidental shooting to a dramatic close when the plead guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a 2-year prison term. with good behavior, he could be back out on the streets in only 20 months. unfortunately, for burress, that killed any chance of football for the next two seasons, at a minimum. maybe he'll get a chance to suit up for the 2012-13 season? lucky for burress, commissioner goodell announced that his one year suspension from the nfl will run concurrently with his jail time.

excuse me if i have no sympathy for plaxico burress! first, his gun-toting stunt - which backfired loudy - led directly (in my opinion) to the implosion of the remainder of ny giants' season. second, his poor strategy of digging in and hoping it would all blow over and he'd get back to football as usual was mind-numbingly dumb. third, and most obnoxious of all, blaming everyone (and everything) in sight for his travails was the last straw - mayor bloomberg ruined it, da morgenthal ruined it, nys mandatory sentences ruined it, my celebrity ruined it... and the whining went on, and on, and on!

the irony of all this stupidity, he could have taken a plea months after the incident - and probably gotten significantly less jail time. but his hubris? fear? poor legal advice? poor public relations? all ratcheted up the stakes and made doing real time in jail inevitable. and in the process, he lost at least one football season of playing time by dragging this out.

no tears - at least from me - for plaxico. hopefully, chilling out for 20 months may help him realize that ordinary people don't walk around with concealed (and loaded) weapons. and, whatever wild west delusions prompted him to walk into a crowded night club with a loaded gun, will seem like some long ago bad dream.

ex-ny giant plaxico burress expects to play in 2009 season while he awaits trial on gun charges!

wow, yesterday the proceedings for plaxico burress' gun possession charges were continued until september 23, 2009 - well after the start of the 2009 football season. his attorney, benjamin brafman, then observed that it was "inconceivable" that burress would actually be tried on the charges before 2010 (thus making him available to play the 2009 season).

wow, once again! i say that because not only have the jets expressed interest in signing plaxico - the outstanding gun charges notwithstanding - but so too have a few other teams! plaxico's agent, drew rosenbaum, stated (on twitter!) that he hopes to have a deal in place (with an as yet unnamed team) in place before training camps start!

as to reinforce the surrealistic normalcy of all this talk of playing football again - despite the possibility that the nfl take disciplinary action, regardless of the delay in the criminal proceeding - brafman pointed out that it's a victimless crime. he ignored the obvious, that the sheer act of carrying an unlicensed, and loaded, weapon (aside from having it discharge in said club!) is the crime. it's treated as a crime, with mandatory jail time, to discourage the conduct - and, hopefully, prevent any victims as a result.

it saddens me that any nfl team would be so desperate for a wide receiver that it would consider hiring him before the resolution of the judicial process - and any potential disciplinary action that the league might impose (before or after that resolution).

in a shocker, giants release plaxico burress!

just days after plaxico burress appeared in court to adjourn the hearing on his criminal gun possession charges, and less than two weeks after the giants said they'd give plaxico a second chance, the team suddenly announced his release today!

“I am an optimist, and I believe most situations can be worked out,” said General Manager Jerry Reese. “We hung in there as long as we could in hopes that there could be a resolution to this situation other than the decision we made today to release Plaxico. It wasn’t to be, so now we have to move on. Like everybody else here, we want nothing but the best for Plaxico, and we are appreciative of the contributions he made to this franchise.”

now, four+ months after the gunshot that set this all in motion - the giants can finally attend to the business of securing a wide receiver to replace him!

plaxico burress due in court today on gun possession charge

plaxico burress is due in the manhattan criminal court this morning for a hearing on his gun possession charges. but the appearance should be over in minutes - without much news - according to plaxico's lawyer, benjamin brafman. as reported in yesterday's ny times, brafman said he and the prosecution have agreed to a continuance while discussions over a plea bargain are underway.

in a somewhat ironic twist, yesterday's ny times coverage included a detailed look at the typical disposition of similar gun possession charges. while burress may face some jail time the article suggested, it's hardly likely that the book would be thrown at him because of the mitigating circumstances. and the defense got a bit more ammunition (obviously a figure of speech - ha) when the giants management droned on last week about their efforts to keep plaxico's spot on the roster ready for him when he returns to the team.

but today's ny times blog leads off with this provocative title "the case for saying bye to burress."

stay tuned: i'll update this post later this morning with any new developments from the hearing.

update: as expected, the case was adjourned until june 15.

SHOCKER UPDATE: on friday, april 3, 2009, the giants unexpectedly released plaxico burress!

giants gm jerry reese said team will take plaxico back, if...

a week before wide receiver plaxico burress is due in court to face gun possession charges, the giant's general manager jerry reese, at the nfl owner's meeting yesterday, said that the giants would give plaxico a second chance if certain conditions were met. the most obvious condition, one would imagine, is that plaxico avoids conviction and jail time on the criminal charges (but they'd probably settle for the avoidance of jail time).

the more interesting condition, as reported in today's daily news coverage, it that plaxico must agree to "play by the same rules" that apply to his teammates. this condition (which to most professional would go without saying) was positively jaw dropping (at least for me):

"Reese, who said the legal process is what's most important for Burress now, said he and Tom Coughlin and the rest of the organization are "on board" with the plan to allow Burress to return as long as he agrees to play by the same rules as the other players on the team. That means showing up on time, not skipping treatment sessions and being responsible.

Reese made it clear that Burress has signed off on that stipulation in the conversations they've had."

that the giants continue to engage in this sideshow is very sad. the giants have spent the off season bolstering their already solid roster of defensive players - which is always great news. but the giants have NOT made any moves to find a NEW wide receiver that can take the place of plaxico burress. even if burress walked away from the gun charges scott-free, he still faces the league sanctions (whatever they may be).

plaxico may play few, if any, games in a giants uniform in the 2009 season. hopefully, by draft day(s) the giants management will have snapped out of this long running delusional dream state and decided to make a new wide receiver the top priority for the team!

anything short of that objective is pure fantasy!

update: days following the adjourned march 31 hearing, the giants officially released burress from the team!