Donte’ Stallworth Pleads Guilty

Cleveland Browns receiver Donte’ Stallworth settled his criminal and civil cases resulting from a drunk driving accident that killed 59-year-old Floridian Mario Reyes back in March. After pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter, Donte’ will get 30 days in jail, two years of house arrest and eight years of probation. He will donate $2,500 each to Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parents of Murdered Children. And he will lose his driver’s license forever. Donte’ has already been taken into custody and his 30-day prison sentence is underway.

Donte' Stallworth, Cleveland Browns / Image: Zuma Press

Cleveland Browns GM General Manager George Kokinis made the following statement:

“The Browns are very conscious of the seriousness of the charges to which Donte’ Stallworth plead guilty to today. We are continuing to evaluate the situation and will make the decisions that we believe are in the best interest of the Cleveland Browns.”

Some people will say this punishment is not enough. But in Donte’s defense, he had an excellent pre-accident history of community service, plenty of references that attested to his good character, no traffic violations or criminal convictions, a complete post-incident cooperation with law enforcement, and a willingness to accept complete responsibility for his actions. Therefore, the terms of the plea were agreed upon between the State Attorney’s office and the police. And the Reyes family was in agreement. Obviously, no sentence can bring Mario Reyes back to his family. But the idea is that this plea deal will provide them some kind of closure as a just punishment.

Bringing football back into the equation, I wonder how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will rule in this matter? I do know he will make a decision before training camp. And if the price is similar to what Leonard Little paid (on a guilty plea of involuntary manslaughter after killing someone while driving drunk in 1998), it will be an eight game suspension.

Source: ClevelandBrowns.com