The Smoking Gun has a copy of the two page felony indictment against New York football Giants Plaxico Burress. The document seems to rely heavily on an unnamed informant. It also claims that Burress possessed the loaded handgun with “the intent to use it unlawfully against another.” I’m not sure how anyone, especially an unnamed informant, can speak to Burress’ intent.
Upon shooting himself in the leg, Burress reportedly told his friends, “Take me to the hospital”.
Mayor Bloomberg is demanding that prosecutors throw the book at Burress. He seems especially perturbed over the fact that the NYPD didn’t even know about this incident until they learned about it on TV. New York law requires a minimum of 3-1/2 years in jail for a conviction of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Burress is looking at a maximum of 20 years for shooting himself in the leg.
I’m not sure how they can convict him when they don’t have any physical evidence against him. They didn’t catch him with the gun actually in his possession. They don’t even have the gun. It’s as though he’s merely being charged with what was reported on ESPN.
If Plaxico Burress wasn’t a professional football player, if he was just some regular dude, would he be charged with two felonies? I’m thinking that if he was just a regular person who accidentally shot himself in the leg, the mayor of New York wouldn’t be screaming for blood. Chances are, he wouldn’t even know about it. Nobody would know about. When NYPD cops pumped 50 rounds into an unarmed man, I don’t remember Mayor Bloomberg calling for prosecutors to throw the book at the police officers.
