Lucky Number 13: Cleveland State Vikings Blow Out Wake Forest 84-69
March 21, 2009Preview: Blue Jackets vs. Panthers (Game 72)
March 21, 2009Opened the mailbox to find an excellent tip from a reader this morning. The link is for a video from an attorney’s perspective on what might happen to Donte Stallworth. Again, no charges have been filed as of yet. However, if reports are true and Donte was over the legal limit while driving his Bentley- he will face a mandatory prison sentence.
According to Florida state law, a sentence of at least 3.5 years must be given to anyone guilty of a DUI accident in which a death occurs. The maximum sentence he can receive is 15 years. The significance of the minimum is that no judge could show leniency and keep him out of prison- not that any athlete has ever had that happen.
The video goes on to explain that the Browns should be able to get out of Donte’s contract, much the same way that the Falcons were able to release Mike Vick. Clauses such as that are pretty standard for NFL contracts, but not having seen Donte’s, I can’t say for certain. It is assumed they could recoup some of the bonus money paid to him if they were inclined to do so.
Now this could take a while however. Stallworth would have to be found guilty, or plead guilty before the Browns would be able to take any action.
4 Comments
That’s interesting; however, like you said, it assumes he’s convicted of DUI. They could come up with a plea deal for reckless driving, or something similar, to avoid the mandatory sentence.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not a lawyer, and I could be completely off-base here.
I have a feeling this is going to take a while to get settled.
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