Just One of the Guys…

Taurasi Celebrating the Lone Title in Phoenix Basketball History

On Thursday night, 3-time WNBA All-Star Diana Taurasi was charged with a DUI in Phoenix around the 7th and Camelback area.  After last years Detroit Shock / Los Angeles Sparks brawl, this represents yet another step for the WNBA to being more like its big brother league.  In addition – Taurasi has now proved that Jason Richardson isn’t the only Phoenix shooting guard who can hop behind the wheel of a car drunk.  I anxiously await Taurasi driving 90 in a 35 with a toddler in the front seat.  Your move Diana.

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Followup on Stallworth: Indefinite Suspension

For those of you that look to SoD as yr primary source for sports news, we are pleased to report that NFL Commish Roger Goodell has put the kibash on the manslaughterer’s season.  The WWL has a pretty good suite of analyses, for once, that side with Goodell.  The most perceptive note, though, was in a comment on Len Pasquarelli’s piece:

I love how people act as though Goodell is out of line, if any of us were convicted of vehicular manslaughter WE WOULD LOSE OUR JOBS. That’s the facts, I’m an officer in the Army and if I get an DUI at all, regardless if someone is hurt or there is even an accident, my career is over. Bye-bye, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I make approx. 1/100 of Donte’s salary and I can afford a cab….

– comment by ac_lmour

This Sumo does not speak for all SoD contributors, but I am glad that the NFL has translated Stallworth’s guilty plea into a first step toward appropriate professional punishment.

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Stallworth Gets 30 Days For Killing a Guy

Soon-to-be-former Cleveland Browns wideout Donte Stallworth was driving drunk (blew a .12 after) in Miami on the morning of March 14, 2009, and ran over a construction worker who was foolishly crossing a busy street at an inappropriate place.  Stallworth, a first-time offender, was apparently driving 50 in a 40 and had time to flash his lights at Mario Reyes before the accident.  As far as this Sumo is concerned, that is the extent of the relevant facts of this case.

Wait, Wait... That's A Pats Uni. Is This a Mugshot?

Today, Stallworth pled guilty to DUI Manslaughter and received a sentence of 30 days in jail, 1000 hours of community service, and 10 years of probation.  The statute apparently provided for a maximum of 15 years in prison.  I have not found the DUI Manslaughter statute, but vehicular homicide in Florida carries the same maximum sentence, meaning both crimes are probably a 2d-degree felony.  (If you believe a prison term is meant to punish a convict for his crime, it might raise an eyebrow that the culpability for voluntary intoxication is not higher than for the recklessness required by the vehicular homicide definition.)

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