The Gilbert Arenas Judgment: "Privilege" Personified?
“It just goes to show you, if you have money, connections, and fame, the law doesn’t apply to you here in Washington DC.” So said a distraught caller into the popular Washington DC talk radio station, WJFK. They weren’t lamenting Dick Cheney’s ability to avoid prosecution for war crimes or the Tea Party leaders who spit on members of congress and called Rep. John Lewis a n***er inside the US Capitol without arrest. The tragedy was that Washington Wizards All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and 400 hours of community service, instead of the three months in prison requested by the US Attorney’s office. After all the smoke had cleared, Arenas’s crime of bringing four unloaded handguns into the District (licensed in the state of Virginia) to “play a prank” on teammate Javaris Crittenton did not merit, in the eyes of Judge Robert E. Morin, being placed behind bars.The difference between the US Attorney’s wish for a three month sentence and the judgment for a halfway house and probation seems paper-thin, yet people in DC – at least those with the time and energy to call into sports radio – are acting like Arenas got off with killing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This is no exaggeration. More than one caller made the OJ comparison saying, “This is the oldest story in America: if you have the money, if you can hire the best lawyers, if your name is OJ and not Joe Schmoe, then the law somehow doesn’t apply to you. Power and privilege win.” This of course has a strong element of truth. Yet there is something bizarre about the fact that some people rail against the utter hypocrisy of our legal system only when it’s athletes – particularly athletes of color – who benefit. No one is decrying the fact that Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt have made 108 million dollars over the last five years without paying one dime of taxes. No one demands to know why Afghanistan overseer, General Stanley McChrystal, who by any objective view falsified the death report of former NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman, was promoted – and not prosecuted - by the Obama administration. Yet athletes become the exemplar of everything that’s wrong with a system stacked in favor of those with power and privilege.
Yes, by all accounts Gilbert Arenas’s lawyer Kenneth Wainstein did a masterful job destroying the prosecution’s case. And yes, I would venture Gilbert didn’t find Kenneth Wainstein in the back of a yellow pages. But fame is a double-edged sword in a court of law. For every example of an athlete “getting off”, one could point out that former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress received a two year bid for shooting himself in the thigh at a nightclub, getting no leniency after an impassioned plea for a tough sentence by Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself. Or Michael Vick, who was in Leavenworth for two years after pleading guilty to being part of a dog fighting ring, a sentence that even the most hardened prosecutors found extraordinarily tough.
In this case, the US Attorneys used Arenas’s fame as a lever to pressure the judge for hard jail time writing, "If any other individual -- without the fame, power, and the wealth of this defendant -- brought four firearms into Washington, D.C., for the purpose of a similar confrontation, fabricated a story to conceal that confrontation, provided convenient explanations in an attempt to mitigate his conduct that were proved false, joked about the incident to large groups, and stated that he did nothing wrong and felt no remorse, the government would seek their incarceration, and the Court would almost certainly give it.”
Yet Arenas’s idiotic antics and comments when the charges went public, as impolitic as that may have been, are not crimes. The only thing left once the hype and headlines abated, was an incredibly immature act involving unloaded guns and the common sense of an adolescent.
That’s why there was no jail time.
But it is also wrong for the law and order crowd to say that Arenas “got off”. He lost an estimated $7.4 million in salary. He lost twice that amount in endorsements. As a convicted felon, he will never be able to vote in his state of residence, Virginia. His reputation as well has been utterly wrecked. Gilbert was the first NBA blogger, an iconoclastic folk hero to NBA fans across the country, particularly those of us who nestle on the interwebs. Now he is just another athletic cautionary tale, lumped in with those who have committed far more grievous offenses. But the lesson of this story is not about yet another athletic felon. It’s not even about the way wealth and privilege can tip the scales of justice. It’s about how our culture obsesses over catching minnows while the sharks keep on circling around us, enraptured by our inattention.
[Dave Zirin is the author of the forthcoming “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]
8 Reader Comments | Add a comment
If you think that the difference between three months in jail and 30 days in a halfway house and probation seems paper thin then you haven't spent much time in either of those places.
The racial content of allusions to the OJ trial are unmistakeable, and they conceal an even more nefarious connection to white sentiments opposing affirmative action. The view that Blacks, especially the rich or middle class and often still less wealthy, have gotten ahead because of special treatment pervades this OJ comparison, the power of the treatment reaching as far as the judicial system apparently.
Jordan - For the prisoner, even one day in jail is an eternity. But I meant from the perspective of the demands of a prosecutor. Asking for such a short sentence - for a crime that could have gotten five years - is very rare.
Sorry but the sentence read like you were saying it was paper thin.
A nice try Dave but I still don't feel Areans's pain(nor should I). I do feel his sentence is fair/appropriate. It's hard to feel sorry for millionaires losing money legally especially if they remain millionaires after sentencing. If you really want them to squeal ask them if they would relinquish 95% of their wealth in lieu of jail time(heck even their prison are different.)
With respect to the minnow/shark analogy there's a bit of Stephen Colbert's truthiness entering the picture. To the average petty criminal Arenas is not a minnow but rather a shark who has different standards applied to him. Only in America.
"To the average petty criminal Arenas is not a minnow but rather a shark.
Posted by Racist Moi?"
A shark? Really? 4 unloaded guns and a stupid prank make him a shark? You're either out of your mind or the most melodramatic poster on this page.. Arenas's "crime" is so infantile and absurd it doesn't even rise to small time criminal "minnow status".
Gilbert Arenas is guilty of stupidity more than anything else. he deserves ridicule for what he did, but i don't think his sentence is all that bad.
to me the slimiest part is the way the wizards tried to void his contract. for years they put up with (even encouraged) his shenanigans and enabled him to push the envelope. yet once this happened they immediately tried to void his contract and absolve themselves of all guilt. they screwed up by giving 120 million to an overrated player coming off a season in which he missed nearly all of the season due to a major knee injury. now they're trying to use his situation as an excuse to wash the blood out, only it doesn't work like that. gilbert must be held accountable for his dumb mistakes, and the wizards should also - meaning they can't squirm out of a contract that they themselves offered.
by the way everyone when you're done here make sure to check out www.arjun-allthingssports.blogspot.com for candid and insightful analysis
People are just tired of the stupidity that players carry sometime. Packing heat is unecessary and the community has long tried to stop guns inthe neighborhood. What do you tell kids not to pack when you are packing heat. The judgment is fair in my book. You are not saying he should be slapped on the wrist
8 Reader Comments | Add a comment
PLEASE NOTE: This forum is for dialog between Edge of Sports readers. Discuss!
Submit your comment below:
Dave Zirin is the author of the book: "Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports" (Haymarket). You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by going to dave@edgeofsports.com.
Become an Edge of Sports Sustainer (Click Here)
Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com
Support the Work
Please consider making a donation to keep this site going.
Become an Edge of Sports Sustainer (Click Here)
