Plaxico Burress Case a Window Into World of Privilege, Influence

NEW YORK – Sycophants have Plaxico Burress' back, no matter where he turns. It's as if he has transported a gang of 300-pound offensive linemen, stuffed them in power suits, swapped their playbooks for legal briefs and mesmerized them with his shiny Super Bowl ring.

That some of these wannabe teammates draw paychecks from the Manhattan District Attorney's office is hardly surprising. Burress was, after all, on the receiving end of one of the greatest touchdowns in New York Giants' history. His fans are omnipotent, to the point where there have been serious internal disagreements within the DA's office over how to handle the criminal charges pending against the wide receiver, prompting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explore punishing Burress even while the case against him meanders along.

According to several sources close to the District Attorney, a few heavy hitters have lobbied hard on behalf of Burress, insisting he deserved special treatment because of his superstar athletic status. His crime -- accidentally shooting himself in the leg with an unlicensed gun, in a crowded New York nightclub – was luckily relatively harmless, they argued. And as ludicrous as that sounds, their voices were strong enough to slow the proceedings to a pace where it looked like Burress might actually play football this season, before he did any meaningful time before a jury.

Thankfully, common sense and public outrage have prevailed. More than seven months after a bullet from the illegal handgun Burress stashed in the waist of his sweatpants ripped a hole into his thigh, nearly hitting bystanders, a grand jury is finally being seated. Why it took this long is a mystery to many who do business in or around City Hall.

Leslie Crocker Snyder, who is running for Manhattan DA, calls the slow-motion offense, "just bizarre." Richard Aborn, on leave from his position as president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City and another candidate for the DA's office, said, "This shouldn't be a complicated case. There is no reason for it to move so slowly. There should not be one standard for the rich and famous and another standard for everyone else."

Robert M. Morgenthau, the longtime DA who is retiring in January, did not return telephone calls for comment. But in a letter to the New York Post, he wrote, "Should the grand jury return an indictment in July, the defendant will immediately be arraigned and the case will then take its normal course." This was in response to columnist Andrea Peyser, who wrote: "One faction inside DA Robert Morgenthau's lair wants to give Plax a break ... A conflicting faction wants Plaxico, who faces felony gun-possession charges, 'to be treated like everybody else,' said one source."

Who needs television scriptwriters when the scenes rip so easily from the headlines? Yes, big-city politics can be as nefarious and dirty as any generated by Small Town, USA. The characters with starring roles in Burress' case are colorful, captivating and very powerful. They eat lunch at Michael's in midtown with Manhattan's legal elite, drink martinis at Elaine's amongst media shakers. There is Burress' lawyer Benjamin Brafman, a loquacious charmer who has defended big-time mobsters and baby-faced killers. There is Drew Rosenhaus, the twittering agent who has convinced a few teams that his client "will be able to play unobstructed" this season, presumably because of the delays orchestrated by Burress' legal team.

On the edge of this tangled mess stands Goodell, the commissioner who is becoming a considerable player on the New York social scene. I am told he, too, is bewildered over the case's sluggish proceedings through the court system, and alarmed at reports of a war within the DA's office concerning how Burress should be handled. Burress has refused plea bargains that would mandate jail time, which is certainly his right, but the longer it took for a grand jury to be impaneled, the more it appeared as if the TV show Law and Order had invaded real life.

Goodell has thus started contemplating suspending Burress indefinitely through the league's Personal Conduct Policy, as first reported by Yahoo! Sports. Burress' next court date isn't until Sept. 23 (a formality unrelated to any grand jury indictment), and though it would be unusual for the commissioner to take action before the closure of legal proceedings, the NFL isn't hesitant to throw around its weight.

Yes, the league can play judge and jury with regard to its employees, just like most any other corporation. If Burress worked for Wal-Mart (or AOL, or the corner bodega) and he was charged with a Class C felony that carries a sentence ranging from 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison, his employer probably wouldn't keep his cubicle vacant. (The Giants did suspend Plaxico for four games following his gun mishap, before releasing him.) The DA's office probably wouldn't be bickering over whether bad judgment should equal jail time and the possible eradication of one's career, either.

"The discussions here have been wild," said a person close to the Manhattan DA's office. "Some people [in the DA's office] believe Plaxico should get a break. They argue he didn't hurt anyone but himself. They are football fans, but then there are other football fans that are tired of athletes getting special treatment. It's like conversations you'd have at the local bar. Like I said, it's been wild."

In another life, Goodell must have made a fine prosecutor. His tenure at the top of the NFL food chain has been highlighted by his get-tough stance with miscreants and law abusers. Goodell recently ordered the indefinite suspension of Cleveland receiver Donte' Stallworth following Stallworth's guilty plea to DUI manslaughter in the accidental death of a Miami man in March."Some people [in the DA's office] believe Plaxico should get a break. They argue he didn't hurt anyone but himself."
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Again, and Michael Vick surely knows this by now, the right to be employed is never mentioned in the United States Constitution. Our founding fathers must not have been football fans.

So, say the grand jury indicts Burress for felony gun possession, Burress continues to eschew any plea agreement and a trial date is set for some time next year. Brafman and Rosenhaus still insist the timing means their client will be able to play for whichever team dares to sign him. After sniffing around the possibility, the Jets have soured on bringing aboard Burress and all his baggage. Rosenhaus claims "several teams" are nonetheless interested, but the more Burress' agent and his lawyer play to the cameras, the more you wonder if their hubris might be hurting their client.

Goodell is backed by the NFL's collectively bargained playbook. Though it states under the Personal Conduct Policy "a first offense will generally not result in discipline until there has been a disposition of the proceeding," the exception to this provision is if the offense results in "bodily injury." The language does not specify if "bodily injury" includes self-infliction via mishandling an illegal firearm in a crowded nightclub.

This is where the lawyers will probably step in, again. Ripped from the headlines indeed.