With the finality of a gunshot echoing in a quiet room, the Giants abruptly and without any hint or warning released star wide receiver Plaxico Burress April 3, on the heels of a failure to agree on a plea bargain on his two charges of felony gun possession in New York County Court.
Burress, who is charged with felony violations that could result in up to three-and-a-half years in prison, has reportedly refused three plea bargains that included jail time -- any jail time. His attorney, the famous "plea bargain expert" Benjamin Brafman, was also reportedly upset with his client as well as with the Giants and there were indications he would "fire" Burress as his client sometime soon.
The charges stem from an incident in a Manhattan night club, The Latin Quarter, in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, when Burress, along with teammates Antonio Pierce and Ahmad Bradshaw, visited the establishment, and allegedly unbeknownst to either of his companions he had a Glock handgun in either the right hand pocket or tucked into the waistband of his "dress-up" sweat pants.
In either case, it accidentally fired, wounding him in the right thigh, and Pierce reportedly drove the weapon in question across state lines to New Jersey after depositing his stricken teammate in a hospital -- allegedly under an assumed name.
The plea bargain would have apparently reduced his "hard time" to less than six months but Plaxico's refusal nixed that agreement. The Giants then decided to release him, based on an apparent refusal on the player's part to stand up to his problems, to change his attitude and to accept a deal that would have reduced the Giants' obligation in terms of his final signing bonus payment of $1 million.
He had a hearing before Stephen Burbank, in conjunction with the NFL Players Association and the league, and the ruling favored Burress. Burbank said that the agreement was signed "well before any of the current troubles occurred" and that the Giants were responsible.
Without Plaxico, and without the retired (or unwanted) veteran Amani Toomer, the Giants will have to find at least one impact wide receiver, perhaps in the draft or possibly via the trade route with Cleveland (for Braylon Edwards) or Arizona (for Anquan Boldin).
"We are confident," said general manager Jerry Reese, "that we did the right thing. We hung in there with Plax as long as we could."
