NFL Receiver Stallworth to Serve Just 30 Days for DUI Manslaughter

Dante Stallworth will serve 30 days in jail for getting behind the wheel of his Bentley while drunk and killing 59 year old Mario Reyes.

The sentence, to be served in Dade County Jail, was far lighter than the maximum possible sentence of 15 years in prison. In addition to the short stint in county jail, the Cleveland Browns receiver will:

• Serve 1000 hours of community service over the next decade
• Spend 2 years under house arrest
• Enter into an alcohol treatment facility (if warranted)
• Face a lifetime driver’s license suspension
• Face continuing random drug testing
• Donate several thousands of dollars to charitable organizations and to the Miami Dade Police Department

Stallworth’s blood alcohol content at the accident was 0.126.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who is scheduled to receive a donation from Stallworth, has posted a message of condemnation about the short sentence on its website and has said that they will not accept any donation from the convicted NFL player. MADD clearly hopes that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will provide more appropriate punitive sanctions, saying in a statement, “This case is a clear test of the NFL’s continued tolerance of drunk driving among its players. We are closely watching what the NFL does.”

Stallworth’s acceptance of full responsibility, his previous good works and reputation and his previously clear traffic record were factors that helped the NFL star at sentencing, but what likely helped Stallworth most of all was the Reyes family’s endorsement of the brief jail sentence.

Stallworth has come to a financial agreement with the family to preempt civil litigation. The terms remain confidential.

It remains to be seen what length of suspension the NFL might issue the receiver of its own accord. A precedent set by Leonard Little of the Rams, who was involved in a DUI manslaughter and served an 8 game NFL suspension, may offer the commissioner a sentencing guideline.