Donte Stallworth who was arrested March 14, 2009 for DUI manslaughter in Miami has pled Guilty to the charges against him. This brings closure to the victim’s family and they have been kept in the loop and given their blessing to the sentence. Mr. Stallworth will receive the following:
- 30 days of jailtime
- A LIFETIME license suspension
- 2 years of house arrest
- 8 years of probation
- 1000 hours of community service
- Alcohol and Drug Counseling
This may sound like a light sentence for the charge, but it is actually quite serious and very much is an appropriate sentence fashioned by people that know the facts of the case much better than of the talking heads on TV or MADD. There was a lot of mitigation that I am sure played a big part in the outcome.
- He stopped immediately.
- He called the police.
- He admitted he hit the man.
- He cooperated with the investigation.
- He took full responsibility.
- He has compensated the family saving them the long drawn out civil case.
- The man ran out in front of him apparently trying to catch a bus.
- The man was not in a crosswalk.
- He has no criminal history.
The simple truth is that the prosecution may not have been able to prove causation in this case. Simply put, they had a strong DUI case, but couldn’t necessarily prove that the DUI was the cause of death. A sober driver in that same spot may have killed him too. The strength of the case is one of the primary factors considered in plea negotiations and I suspect it weighed heavily here too.
If the prosecutor had insisted on years in jail, then the case would have most certainly gone to trial. This would have caused more harm to the family and potentially more harm to Donte Stallworth. The prosecutor would have been between a rock and a hard place, with a mediocre case at best. That kind of “all or nothing” situation is rarely good for anyone. I think they did the right thing in the nature of a compromise.
From a public relations standpoint, Donte Stallworth and his lawyers have done a marvelous job putting this to rest in just a few short months. He has been suspended from the NFL and may never play again, we will see. It’s a sad case. There are no winners here. There is no celebrity treatment here. However, all these folks that think they know to best run the legal system, need to go to lawschool, sit for the bar exam, then go out and change the world. Until then, I wish they would leave the legal business to those that know it best…the prosecutor, the defense lawyer and the judge.
