Plaxico Burress Takes His Plea Deal

Plaxico Burress pleaded to charges of one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, and accepted the possibility of a two-year prison sentence for shooting himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub in 2008. This not only marks yet another curious legal instance of someone being sent to jail for shooting themselves, but also ensures the continuing boom in fashionable holster sales in thee urban fashion market.

Burress was set up for a potential three-year prison sentence. The plea deal will work something like this: Burress cooperates, and essentially pleads stupid and negligent in exchange for a lighter sentence. This sentence is not guaranteed to be handed down in full; in fact, Burress and his attorneys probably have a very good idea of what Burress stands to serve when the full sentencing is handed down on Sept. 22 in an NYC court. This could be anything within the limits of the sentence, and speculation on exactly what it will be would be negligent on our part. (It will be exactly 17 months. You heard it here first!)

This does not end Burress' career, but it certainly does put a huge dent in his financial standing with the loss of salary and mounting legal fees surrounding the case. Also, he'll have to pay all the backloaded Tom Coughlin fines from being late and early to practice, a sum which sources say is in the $500K range even though he is no longer with the team. Coughlin doesn't let little details like "whether you're on the team" or "Hey, I'm in jail" keep him from handing out random fines to whomever he pleases. His landscaper owes Coughlin $75K for "being irritatingly short." That's just how intense Coughlin is.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.