Giants' Burress faces mandatory jail time for illegal weapons possession in NYC

From the New York Times:

On a night in January 2007, one of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s deputies for criminal justice addressed a small gathering of lawyers at the New York Bar Association’s office in Midtown Manhattan. In a large conference room, he described how new legislation that he and Bloomberg had spearheaded would reduce gun violence in New York.

As that deputy, John Feinblatt, addressed the group, he was challenged by several defense lawyers who thought the legislation — which mandated a minimum three-and-a-half-year sentence for illegal possession of a loaded weapon — was unfair. Their complaint was that the new law did not allow for any exceptions. The lawyer most vocal in pressing that point, said several people who attended the meeting, was Benjamin Brafman.

Almost two years later, Brafman finds himself in direct confrontation with that law as he tries to navigate a treacherous legal path for his client, Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress.

The state law is a direct threat to Burress because he was charged with two counts of illegal weapons possession after he accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub early Saturday morning.

Article here.