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I didn't realize that Jack Givens had been tried for sex crimes involving a teenager:
Outcome never in doubt when a star is on trial
Mike Bianchi
SPORTS COMMENTARY
September 23, 2005
The teenage girl couldn't believe the verdict.
Her family and friends were angry and shocked.
They shouldn't have been.
On the day the jury began deliberating on whether former NBA player and Magic TV analyst Jack "Goose" Givens was guilty of four sex crimes involving a teenage girl, a respected trial attorney in town just rolled his eyes when I asked him to predict the verdict.
"This is a slam dunk," the attorney said with supreme confidence. "The celebrity never loses. Never."
Sure enough, a few hours later, Givens was acquitted on all four charges and walked out of the courtroom a free man. And the teenage girl ran from the courtroom in tears.
This isn't a criticism of the jury members who acquitted Givens; it's meant as cynicism toward a legal system where you just knew they would. The only thing more certain than Kobe Bryant stepping to the line and making a free throw is a team of high-priced attorneys stepping to the lectern and making Kobe a free man.
Doesn't matter what era you played in or what team you played on, sports stars are even more pampered in the courthouse than they are in the clubhouse. One of the NFL's all-time greats (O.J. Simpson) was tried for murder and one of the NFL's current greats (Ray Lewis) was accused of murder. Both are now freer than the olive loaf samples given out at the Publix deli.
Each legal case may be different, but there is one glaring similarity: Accused athletes and former athletes have given us the closest thing we've seen to the undefeated season since the '72 Dolphins. Simpson, Bryant, Mark Chmura, Kirby Puckett, Jayson Williams -- they all walked away from murder, manslaughter or sexual assault charges. The most notable exception is Mike Tyson, who is such a human train wreck that there was no choice but for a jury to find him guilty of rape several years ago.
Statistics show that athletes are convicted at a much lower rate than the national average. According to a USA Today study during the Kobe trial, prominent athletes are much less likely to be convicted of sexual assault than the average citizen. How's this for an eye-opening statistic: 66 percent of the general population is convicted when charged with sexual assault; 67 percent of prominent athletes are exonerated in sexual assaults.
It's become quite obvious that if you are a sports figure, you have an excellent chance of being acquitted by a jury of your fans, er, peers. Then again, it's not just wide-eyed jurors who are star-struck when in the presence of a famous athlete. Remember when Barry Bonds showed up in court to have his child support and alimony payments reduced? The judge not only complied with the request, he asked for Bonds' autograph.
"I don't know the statistics, but when you look around the country it sure seems to be harder to convict athletes," admitted Willie Meggs, the assistant state attorney in Tallahassee who has tried several Florida State football players and has, for the most part, been skunked like the Duke Blue Devils.
Asked why athletes seem to get off at a much higher rate than the average citizen, Meggs answered with a question. "Why do we pay the president less than a million dollars a year, but we pay $13 million a year to a baseball player who hits .333 and fails to get a hit two-thirds of a time?" Meggs asked.
After thinking momentarily, I answered his question: "Is it because we idolize star athletes even more than we do the leader of our country?"
Meggs chuckled.
"Either that," he said, "or we're just stupid."
Mike Bianchi can be reached at [email protected].
Outcome never in doubt when a star is on trial
Mike Bianchi
SPORTS COMMENTARY
September 23, 2005
The teenage girl couldn't believe the verdict.
Her family and friends were angry and shocked.
They shouldn't have been.
On the day the jury began deliberating on whether former NBA player and Magic TV analyst Jack "Goose" Givens was guilty of four sex crimes involving a teenage girl, a respected trial attorney in town just rolled his eyes when I asked him to predict the verdict.
"This is a slam dunk," the attorney said with supreme confidence. "The celebrity never loses. Never."
Sure enough, a few hours later, Givens was acquitted on all four charges and walked out of the courtroom a free man. And the teenage girl ran from the courtroom in tears.
This isn't a criticism of the jury members who acquitted Givens; it's meant as cynicism toward a legal system where you just knew they would. The only thing more certain than Kobe Bryant stepping to the line and making a free throw is a team of high-priced attorneys stepping to the lectern and making Kobe a free man.
Doesn't matter what era you played in or what team you played on, sports stars are even more pampered in the courthouse than they are in the clubhouse. One of the NFL's all-time greats (O.J. Simpson) was tried for murder and one of the NFL's current greats (Ray Lewis) was accused of murder. Both are now freer than the olive loaf samples given out at the Publix deli.
Each legal case may be different, but there is one glaring similarity: Accused athletes and former athletes have given us the closest thing we've seen to the undefeated season since the '72 Dolphins. Simpson, Bryant, Mark Chmura, Kirby Puckett, Jayson Williams -- they all walked away from murder, manslaughter or sexual assault charges. The most notable exception is Mike Tyson, who is such a human train wreck that there was no choice but for a jury to find him guilty of rape several years ago.
Statistics show that athletes are convicted at a much lower rate than the national average. According to a USA Today study during the Kobe trial, prominent athletes are much less likely to be convicted of sexual assault than the average citizen. How's this for an eye-opening statistic: 66 percent of the general population is convicted when charged with sexual assault; 67 percent of prominent athletes are exonerated in sexual assaults.
It's become quite obvious that if you are a sports figure, you have an excellent chance of being acquitted by a jury of your fans, er, peers. Then again, it's not just wide-eyed jurors who are star-struck when in the presence of a famous athlete. Remember when Barry Bonds showed up in court to have his child support and alimony payments reduced? The judge not only complied with the request, he asked for Bonds' autograph.
"I don't know the statistics, but when you look around the country it sure seems to be harder to convict athletes," admitted Willie Meggs, the assistant state attorney in Tallahassee who has tried several Florida State football players and has, for the most part, been skunked like the Duke Blue Devils.
Asked why athletes seem to get off at a much higher rate than the average citizen, Meggs answered with a question. "Why do we pay the president less than a million dollars a year, but we pay $13 million a year to a baseball player who hits .333 and fails to get a hit two-thirds of a time?" Meggs asked.
After thinking momentarily, I answered his question: "Is it because we idolize star athletes even more than we do the leader of our country?"
Meggs chuckled.
"Either that," he said, "or we're just stupid."
Mike Bianchi can be reached at [email protected].
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