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A spirit that is not afraid

Athlete's Sentence Too Lenient

This past weekend, I lost faith in America's judicial system.

Professional football player Donte Stallworth walked out of a Miami, jail after only serving 24 days of his 30-day sentence.

He was in jail because he killed a person while driving intoxicated on the early morning of March 14.

The police called it a DUI and second-degree manslaughter.

Twenty-four days in jail.

Is this some sort of cruel joke?

He now gets to go back home, probably to a multi-million dollar house, with two years of house arrest and eight years of probation, while the family of the man he killed will never see their loved one again.

I was appalled when I heard this about this decision.

Living in the Metro Atlanta area for the better part of the last decade, I have been updated almost daily on former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's dog fighting, trial, imprisonment and release.

Vick received 23 months in federal prison for his actions and has now been on house arrest since May and has probation to look forward to after that.

I fail to see how these two cases were sentenced.

It seems to me that they are backward, that Vick should have gotten the lighter sentence and Stallworth the more severe of the two.

Both Stallworth and Vick have been suspended indefinitely by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell because of their wrongdoings.

I guess I missed the day in elementary school when we learned that dogs were more important than human beings.

I love dogs, I have one back home and my roommate has one in our apartment.

My family recently had to put a dog to sleep, and that was a sad event, but nowhere near as sad as if it were a relative.

I would much rather have my mom call and tell me that the dog has died than to tell me my grandpa passed away.

I can't say that it was money and fame that got Stallworth the lenient sentence, because Vick had more money, was the best quarterback to ever come out of Virginia Tech and the greatest thing to happen to the Falcons since the "Dirty Bird."

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The drunken driving makes me even angrier.

I'm a laid back person, but drunken driving makes me go insane. It's probably the dumbest thing a person can do.

A pro athlete, in any sport, should be able to afford a cab ride home or even have a sober friend come pick him or her up.

I hope I never get into any trouble with the law, because I don't think I could handle the uncertainty of the sentence I was going to receive.


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