Plaxico Plea Could Still Entail Prison Time

Updating his item regarding the possibility of a plea bargain for Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio reports that the resolution of the charges could nevertheless result in jail time. Burress currently faces charges of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded and unlicensed weapon. A conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years. Per Paolantonio, the 3.5-year mandatory minimum sentence commonly is avoided via a guilty plea to third-degree criminal possession of a loaded and unlicensed weapon. But Paolantonio points out that, in 2008, nearly 80 percent of those convicted of a third-degree charge served time. We believe that, as a practical matter, there’s no way that Burress gets out of this thing without serving time. When New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg threw down the gauntlet in the wake of the incident, the chances of Burress skating evaporated. The only question is whether prosecutors will opt not to pursue what looks to be an open-and-shut case of second-degree possession, based on the once open and now shut hole in Plax’s leg.