What’s wrong with this picture?
June 16, 2009: Donte Stallworth pleads guilty to DUI manslaughter – gets 30 days in jail. (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?prov=ap&slug=ap-stallworth-pedestriankilled&type=lgns)
June 23, 2009: Lee Monroe Crider pleads no contest to stealing Lance Armstrong’s bike – gets 3 years in jail. (http://www.sacbee.com/500/story/1968401.html?mi_rss=Cycling/Hiking/Running)
No, I didn’t swap the sentences. That’s really true.
Donte Stallworth, a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, killed someone while driving drunk and got 30 days in jail. He also got his driver’s license suspended for life, has to perform 1000 hours of community service, is under house arrest for 2 years, and then has 8 years of probation. Donte has recently signed a $35 million contract with the Browns.
Lee Monroe Crider, on the other hand, is a nobody who made $6/hr under the table working at a laundromat. For his crime of grand theft (the bike was worth $10,000) he gets 3 years in jail.
Apparently the moral of this story is: If you’re a sports star you can pretty much get away with murder. But if you’re a poor nobody then the justice system will serve a harsh punishment for a relatively minor infraction.
Tags: crime, government, murder, sports, theft