“But I’m famous? Doesn’t that count for something?”
Lord, I hope not.
ESPN reported yesterday that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was seeking early release from prison. Specifically, they report that Mayweather’s attorneys have filed
an emergency motion asking the court to move Mayweather into the general jail population — something that jail officials had avoided out of fear for the celebrity’s safety — or put him in house arrest for the rest of his three-month sentence.
The court knows that the offering the option of moving Mayweather into general population is an empty gesture, because the likely result of doing so would subject the state to a huge lawsuit. The ESPN report goes on to note that Mayweather’s attorney, Richard Wright,
said he’d be willing to have the boxer serve the sentence in an apartment or somewhere less luxurious than Mayweather’s posh Las Vegas-area home. But prosecutor Lisa Luzaich said softening the sentence would be just another accommodation, similar to when Mayweather’s jail surrender date was postponed for months after sentencing so he could fight Miguel Cotto in May.
Mayweather’s strongest argument in favor of early release appears to be that serving out the remainder of his term could threaten his career by limiting his access to proper exercise and nutrition. I sincerely hope that Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa doesn’t accept this argument. Many people lose their livelihood because they go to jail. I admit that Mayweather’s job is much more sensitive to even short jail sentences, being that he’s an elite athlete, but the solution isn’t disparate treatment. The solution is not committing the crime. For the same reason his job is so sensitive to jail sentences, he has a higher burden of behaving himself. He’s a public figure, and if you want a job in the public spotlight, you have to answer to the public, whether or not they’re being reasonable. He received a 90-day sentence despite having the means to employ top-notched attorneys, which suggests he’d be facing a longer sentence if he could afford only what most of us can.
I hope he serves the full term, and if that costs him his career, it’s his own damn fault.
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Follow Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on Twitter @FloydMayweather
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