Yesterday Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth received a 30 day jail sentence for killing a pedestrian while driving drunk. That’s right: 30 days!
On March 14th of this year, Stallworth was driving his Bentley when he struck and killed Mario Reyes, a 59 year old construction worker, after a night of drinking at a bar in Miami Beach. His blood alcohol level was .126, considerably above Forida’s .08 limit.
Stallworth was facing 15 years imprisonment for a DUI manslaughter conviction, but made a plea deal which netted him the 30 day jail sentence, plus 2 years house arrest, 8 years probation, undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing, a lifetime driver’s license suspension and must perform 1,000 hours of community service. It also helped that he had reached a financial settlement with Reyes’s family. Although Stallworth will most likely face a suspension from the NFL for a few games this year, the house arrest provisions will allow him to continue playing football.
I couldn’t help making a comparison to the punishment Michael Vick, another football player, received for financing a dog fighting operation… where the dogs that lost were killed and Vick apparently took part in some of these killings. Vick plead guilty and was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison, released after serving 19 months, but won’t be released from federal custody until July 20th. Until then he has to wear an electronic monitor, serve 2 months house arrest and is on probation for 3 years. Vick had also received a 3 year suspended sentence for pleading guilty to state dogfighting charges. His 10 year – $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons has been voided, he is still facing suspension from the NFL and has filed for bankruptcy.
There is something about the Stallworth sentence that just doesn’t sit right with me. In fact, I find it reprehensible that he will only serve 30 days in jail for killing another human being… while Vick received close to 2 years for killing dogs. I have no problem with the Vick sentence and would have even supported more jail time. However as I stated in this post when Vick was released from prison in May, “in our society, the way people love their pets, especially white people, it would have been better for him if he was killing people and eating them like a Jeffrey Dahmer”. Stallworth’s sentence in comparison to Vick’s proved my point. Plus I guess with a name like “Mario Reyes”, it’s safe to conclude that Stallworth didn’t kill a white preppy looking coed with blond hair and blue eyes, so the administration of justice has been duly served.
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Asa,
I agree, Dante Stallworth got away with MURDER, literally. The circumstances that lead to his plea agreement and the parties who approved it should definitely be investigated. I’m sensing a little pay to play here. Rapper T.I. is about to serve a one year sentence for purchasing weapons. And although I agree that he too should be punished, T.I., unlike Stallworth, never killed anyone. Where’s the justice for the family of Mario Reyes?
I disagree though, with your defense of Vick. Dogs should not be bread to viciously attack and kill one another. Especially not by a man who has enough time and money to make a much larger contribution to society or at least, find a humane hobby.
And not only did Vick do the wrong thing, he did it with the assholishness that has come to embody African American male athletes. As a public figure, it’s usually not what you do but how you spin it that determines your survival. Vick ran around Atlanta lying, and giving everyone the finger (literally).
So, understandably, he lost many of his most staunch supporters ( I know because as an Atlanta resident, I was a huge Vick fan). If he had been contrite and apologized when the shit hit the fan, I doubt he would be broke and working construction right now.
There are a hell of a lot of people that get a slap on the wrists (unfortunately) for abusing animals. There are also thousands of people serving life terms for killing other human beings. The Vick and Stallworth situations are exceptions, not the rule. They don’t speak to any larger truth about how we treat value human life vs. animal life. They speak to stupid black men with money behaving irresponsibly…
Yvette,
“I disagree though, with your defense of Vick.”
I offered no defense of Michael Vick. I clearly stated: “I have no problem with the Vick sentence and would have even supported more jail time.”
“The Vick and Stallworth situations are exceptions, not the rule.”
I had an ethics professor in university who always stated that “exceptions prove the rule!” The Vick and Stallworth sentences speak for themselves.
“They don’t speak to any larger truth about how we treat value human life vs. animal life.”
You are right. They don’t. However, they do speak clearly to the truth of how white culture treats and values animal life over the life of a person of color and specifically the life of a Black person. I have seen more news stories about the killing of Gorillas in the Congo than on the carnage of rape and murder the women in eastern Congo face daily! Luckily for Stallworth he just murdered a “brown guy”… and not a pitbull.
Asa,
The “white culture” of which you speak has sentenced many a young black male to life without the possibility of parole for killing another black male (or female) . In my view, this is unfortunate because I believe in rehabilitation and prevention. But the fact of the matter is our prisons are not over-crowding with black males who have killed dogs.
Vick’s situation was unique and made worse by his own buffoonish behavior. And let’s not forget, Vick didn’t just “kill a pitbull”, he was a part of a dog fighting ring. For Stallworth, this was one night of irresponsibility, whereas for Vick, it was a money-making thug venture. A side-hustle if you will.
I do believe that animal rights and abuses have been given much more attention in the last 10 years. However, I believe this has much more to do with the emergence of animal rights organizations and not a sign that white culture values animal life over black life. Either way, the Vick argument is not the best example of this. He was an accident waiting to happen.
Issues of race, class and even gender to some extent, perverts the administration of justice in the U.S. (and Canada also)… no doubt. If Stallworth had killed a white preppy looking coed with blond hair and blue eyes, with a name like: “Josh/Jennifer Hamilton”… he’d get 5 years in a federal pen. If this white preppy looking coed with blond hair and blue eyes came from a family with money, he’d get 10-15 years. If he’d killed the white CEO of the construction company… “John Michael Benjamin Hamilton III”… he’d get life! lol!