Awenone - Donte Stallworth sentenced...

Wow. Um. Wow.

I say "Awenone" because there are no winners here. Let's explain, for those of you who don't know.

I am going to let you all in on where I'm from, since I know I have so many international readers. Donte Stallworth is a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns. Now I use the term wide receiver loosely because he caught like 2 balls last year, never played and this man who was supposed to stretch the field and give us passing depth, never ran a route longer then 15 yards. But I digress.

In march, he was in Florida, had a few drinks and hit a man in his car. The man died. Stallworth cooperated with everything. The man (Reyes I think was his last name), ran across the street trying to catch a bus. He was not in a cross walk. He was a father, brother, husband, etc.

So, everything happened and Stallworth, obviously, was sorry. He struck a deal with the courts. The minimum jail time was 4 years, maximum 15.

He got 30 days. 24, to be exact. They expect him to be out sooner for good behavior. He has to pay out a few thousand to the county, less to the city and some $500 in court costs. He also had to give money to MADD and some other charities.

Once he's out, he will have 2 years of "community control" and 8 years probation. He will not have a monitoring device, must serve 1,000 hours of community service and loses his driver's license for life.

This was because he has no previous record, cooperated fully and showed he was sorry.
He also gave an undisclosed amount of money to the family so they can not take him to court for wrongful death.

So, who wins? No one? Everyone? I don't know. Stallworth is lucky that he can continue his NFL career, although he will likely be suspended for some games. But he does have that little things in the back of his mind saying, "you killed someone". The family lost their provider. But they now have so much money they don't need to work. The community must stave off thoughts and reports that they gave him special treatment. But they now have money and someone for community service who will make their on-ramps look pretty.

Where do I stand? Let me think. I don't really know. I can't imagine what it would feel like to lose my father. But I also don't know if putting someone away for 4 years would solve anything. What helps death? Money? That's what we always seem to give when someone dies. I know it doesn't fix things, but it makes life after a little bit easier.

The whole thing was an accident, let's not forget. He loses his license for life. So he can't do it again. Peiople strike deals all the time. Is this any different?

More important than anything...If he gets out and comes back to the Browns, is he going to do anything? Maybe its the city of Cleveland he should be appologizing to? Maybe I'm just selfish.