A New York Giant with a Small Chance at Winning

Plaxico Burress's hearing has been adjourned until June while his lawyer and the prosecutors try to work out a plea deal. 

Everyone has been talking about what a bad or good boy he is, and that he either should or should not come back.

What I think everybody is missing from all this, is that, it is not about Plaxico anymore. Yes, he set these events in motion and he may even have had a good reason for carrying a gun that night, but the matter now is in the hands of America’s "Law Enforcement Monster," as I call it, and a great Monster it is. This is truly a nation of many laws, a million of them.

A recent New York Times article points to a new report which indicates that America now leads the world in prison population. For the first time ever in the nation's history ONE IN 100 PEOPLE are BEHIND BARS. Yes, that's more than China and Russia.This either means we have lots of bad people or the elite have become adept at keeping the lower class "in their place." Whatever it is, it's dysfunctional. 

Sorry, Plaxico, I love you and everything and thanks for bringing me a great deal of happiness and pride in the Superbowl and your exemplary play in the Championship game againts the Packers during the Giants run to the superbowl. But you are now in the claws of a lock-em-up-machine, like no other in the world.

Also, don’t forget that the American court system is an adversarial type of system bent on winning at all costs, irregardless of the truth. And I believe very strongly that the prosecutor in this case is looking to “win,” and why Plax doesn't have a deal yet.

The question then becomes, how do you allow the prosecutor to win, but give Plax some wiggle room to come back, like what happened with current Giant running back, Ahmad Bradshaw. Resultingly, this then becomes the best scenario, considering the realities of today's American justice system. In the Bradshaw case, he was allowed to serve his jail time during the offseason. Why can't Plax do the same.

We must admit that Plax's case is more malignant than Bradshaw's case, as Bradshaw committed his infraction as a juvenile. If you remember, the "Monster" got it's claws on him too. Bradshaw was  prosecuted for underage drinking, off campus, at the University of Virginia. How many of us were not guilty of this during our youthful exuberance during our years at our college or university. At that age there is a confluence of peer pressure and machoism and the traditional beer or two. He was charged with underage drinking and resisting arrest. Moreover, while at Marshall University, he was charged with petty larceny for stealing a Playstation from a dorm room and was sentenced to two years probation. Then he violated his probation. I can't tell you how Mr. Bradshaw came to violate his probation as this had mysteriously surfaced after the Giants had won the Superbowl, but if anybody knows, please tell me. 

How does the Plax case measure to the Micheal Vick case? By the way, this "Monster" will do anything to convict you. Look at the title of what Micheal Vick was convicted of; it consists of twenty one words: "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture." Twenty one words to describe  a crime. This is what Michael Vick pleaded guilty to, which included jail time. This is the kind of mentality Plax is up against. Would it have been a travesty to allow Vick to serve his sentence during the offseason and a stiff fine? Dogs were killed, but no one was shot in the Vick case but in the Plax case no one was injured other than the agent himself, but one can argue that there was a potential for humans to have been injured in some sort of wild-eyed worst case scenario. I would put them at about the same level of harm based on the law. 

The good news (if I can call it that) is that this happened in more liberal-thinking New York, which is a long way from the conservative south of the country, like Virginia, where Bradshaw and Vick were prosecuted.

I don't think Jerry Reese and the Giant organization will be happy about this adjournment as they now have to plan a draft, with a X factor. Let's hope this plea deal gets done before the draft begins in late April. 

Let's hope Plax gets his jail time but is allowed to serve it during the offseason, which is the best scenario, considering the circumstances. I just don't trust the "Monster" so I am keeping my fingers crossed.