[sportscurmudgeon]

53 Fan:

You are correct! If found guilty at trial there was a mandatory minimum sentence of 42 months in jail staring at him. (That is 3.5 years in case anyone's calculator isn't working.)

The charge was carrying an unregistered concealed handgun. No charges involving injuries or intentions or any of that feelgood stuff were on the table. What Burress would have had to show a jury beyond a reasonable doubt was that he was not carrying an unregistered handgun that night.

Go back and read the press reports and you will see why his lawyer said the case was almost indefensible. And so he "got off easy" with only a 2 year plea deal; if he had continued to pretend he was innocent - - meaning he never did carry an unregistered handgun in NYC - - he would probably have done 42 months in the slammer.

Comparing Burress' sentence to Stallworth's or Leonard Little's or Michael Vick's or even OJ's is comparing apples to oranges. They were charged with different crimes in different jurisdictions with different sentencing structures surrounding potential convictions.