Plea bargain, ‘Money’ style

SACRAMENTO—You do the crime, you do the time—at least part of it.

For nodding yes to a plea deal in a Las Vegas courthouse last Wednesday, Floyd Mayweather Jr. got what amounts to a slap on his furious fist.

The undefeated boxer who calls himself “Money” was sentenced to 90 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to a reduced battery domestic violence charge and no contest to two harassment charges.

The case arose from an incident involving Floyd and his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris while two of their children watched in September 2010. One of the children told police he saw his dad hit and kick his mother.

With Santa’s gift even to a misbehaving one taking the form of a plea deal—Mayweather avoided a felony and misdemeanor trial that could have sent him to state prison for 34 years if convicted on all charges—including felony grand larceny, coercion and robbery charges and misdemeanor domestic battery and harassment.

Harris said she suffered injuries from an assault by Mayweather when he learned she was dating another man. She also said Mayweather threatened her and stole her cell phone. One of the children, then aged 10 and 9 told police the boxer threatened to “kick their asses” if they left their house and called for help.

Mayweather will also plead no contest next week to a misdemeanor battery charge for poking and verbally abusing a security guard. The guard angered the boxer for writing tickets to two of Money’s vehicles parked illegally near his $9.5 million, 12,000 square foot mansion in a Vegas suburb.

The plea bargain is part and parcel of the judicial system in America and elsewhere. It is defined in legal circles as an agreement between the defendant, represented by his lawyer and the prosecutor to resolve a criminal case without trial. Essentially, it is a compromise of compañeros to convince the accused to plead guilty or no contest to a less serious charge in exchange for a lighter sentence or dismissal of other charges. The court and the accused, however must approve any such settlement.

In one of the more infamous plea bargains locally, a division of the government graft court approved a deal in May of last year involving the state and accused plunderer Carlos Garcia. The former military controller facing a 303-million peso plunder case was allowed to plead guilty to lesser offenses of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering in exchange for the turnover of 135.433 million pesos of his and family’s assets to the government.

Mayweather’s incarceration to start on January 6 at the Clark County Detention Center not only pushed back a proposed megafight with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in May. It also effectively put his career on hold.

Floyd’s license with the Nevada Boxing Commission expires this year. But the Commission won’t be able to suspend the boxer because he is not a license holder while in jail.

When he does apply for a new license, the Commission will note on his application that he was a jailed convict and could bar him from fighting in Las Vegas.

But the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper—the first to report the plea bargain involving Mayweather—said “the likelihood” of Mayweather being denied a license is slim “in a state where he has helped generate millions of dollars in revenue during his career.”