Stallworth's Deal Sends Poor Message About Drinking and Driving

30 days.

That’s all Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth will have to spend behind bars for killing a man while driving under the influence of alcohol.

30 days.

With a .126 blood alcohol level—more than 50 percent above the legal limit of .08—Stallworth made the decision to get behind the wheel of his Bentley at 7 a.m. and drive after a night of drinking in South Beach. 

That decision resulted in the death of 59-year-old Mario Reyes, a construction worker from nearby southwest Miami who had just finished his shift and was crossing the street to catch a bus home when Stallworth struck him with his car.

Police estimated Stallworth, in addition to being legally drunk, was driving 50 mph in a 40 mph zone at the time of the incident.    

30 days.

Stallworth began serving his sentence immediately, which means he will be out in time for Cleveland’s training camp, scheduled to begin Aug. 1. 

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will not miss out on a single football activity because of his legal punishment.  (Whether he misses any activities as a result of discipline from the NFL is another matter.) 

Meanwhile, Reyes’ 15-year-old daughter, Daniela, will miss out on having her father present for the rest of her life. 

He won’t be there when she graduates from high school, something Reyes never did and who no doubt would have been beaming with pride at his little girl’s accomplishment.

He won’t be there to give her away when she gets married, or to see the sparkle in her eyes during the father/daughter dance, the one that says “thank you for everything you did for me, daddy.”   

He won’t be there when she has a child, reducing her to tears when she thinks about how her own baby will never get to know the sweet, gentle, hard-working man who helped make Mommy the loving person she is.

30 days.

Along with two years house arrest.  But don’t be fooled.  Unlike most people’s house arrest, where they are actually confined to their house with an electronic monitor attached to their ankle, Stallworth’s deal has certain “provisions” that will allow him to continue to practice and play football all over the country while earning millions of dollars in the process. 

Oh, and he also has to perform 1,000 hours of community service, some of which he vowed to spend educating others on the dangers of drinking and driving. 

You know, to help prevent innocent people from getting killed by idiots who choose to drive under the influence.

30 days.

24, actually, if you count the one day he already served and a Florida law allowing for five days off your sentence per month.  This despite Florida sentencing guidelines calling for nine years in prison for DUI manslaughter, the crime Stallworth plead guilty to.

And let’s not forget that it is 24 days of jail, not prison, and if you don’t recognize the difference, ask someone who’s been to either. 

30 days.

At least fellow NFL player Leonard Little got 60 days when he killed a woman while driving drunk in 1998.  60 days, a punishment so ineffective, six years later Little was arrested for DUI again. 

Anyone want to take bets that it was not his first time driving under the influence during that span?  If Little wasn’t deterred by his two-month incarceration, what are Stallworth and others expected to learn from his receiving an even lighter sentence? 

30 days.

This despite a nearly 30-year effort by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to increase awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence.  According to MADD’s website, in 2007 nearly 13,000 people died as the result of drunk-driving related crashes in the United States. 

That’s 13,000 families devastated because people continue to drive drunk.  Could that have anything to do with the puny sentences given to offenders like Little and Stallworth?

30 days.

It’s hard to argue with ESPN’s legal analyst Lester Munson, who yesterday said Stallworth and his lawyer, Christopher Lyons, “worked the system brilliantly” and “handled this the way a doctor or lawyer or anybody else would’ve handled it.” 

I presume by “anybody else” he meant anybody else with money, since those using the Florida public defenders office typically receive years in prison for pleading guilty to a similar crime.

30 days.

Plus an undisclosed amount of money for lawyer fees, loss of income from endorsements, a possible suspension from the NFL and, of course, the completely, completely, COMPLETELY unrelated financial settlement to the Reyes family. 

All told, this could end up costing Stallworth millions, as opposed to the $100 or so a cab ride would’ve cost him had he exercised better judgment that night. 

Still, something tells me Stallworth will still be able to feed his family, seeing as how he received a $4.5 million bonus from the Browns the night before the incident and is scheduled to make $5 million this year as part of the seven-year, $35 million contract he signed last season.

30 days.

Was justice served in this case, as the DA’s office and Stallworth’s attorney claimed?  It’s true that Stallworth didn’t mean to kill anybody.  By all accounts he’s not a bad guy and appears to be genuinely remorseful. 

So why does it bother me so much?  Well, because Mario Reyes is still dead and a drunk-driving Stallworth killed him.  Those are the facts of the case, and they were not disputed by anyone. 

30 days.

I guess justice was served.  But before you go off and do something monumentally stupid, like getting drunk and then driving, ask yourself one question:  How much justice can you afford? 

Patrick Gutierrez is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.  He can be reached at [e-mail].