Sports

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donté Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to a DUI manslaughter charge resulting from a deadly accident this year on the MacArthur Causeway. The plea deal announced Tuesday calls for the 28-year-old Stallworth to also serve 10 years' probation and do 1,000 community service hours for killing a pedestrian he hit with his car. Stallworth had faced up to 15 years in prison.

In the details of the probation, it was revealed that Stallworth will spend 2 years under house arrest and 8 years on probation with multiple conditions including: random drug testing, lifetime driver's license suspension along with no driving, and paying restitution to multiple agencies.

Miami Beach police said Stallworth struck and killed 59-year-old crane operator Mario Reyes who was rushing to catch a bus after finishing his shift around 7:15 a.m. on the morning of March 14th. Stallworth told police he flashed his lights in an attempt to warn Reyes. Stallworth, who had been drinking at a bar in the Fountainebleu hotel before the accident, had a blood-alcohol level of .126, well above Florida's .08 limit.

Stallworth also reached a confidential financial settlement with the Reyes' family. A person close to the negotiations told The Associated Press about the agreement on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the deal.

Terry Chavez, spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, said the Reyes family had been pushing hard to resolve the case.

"We have been in intense negotiations for the past couple of days," Chavez said. "We always take the victim's wishes into account."

In court Tuesday, Stallworth stood to make a short apology to the family.

"I would like to once again express my deepest sincerities and condolences to the Reyes family and mr reyes daughter Daniella," said Stallworth. "Your honor, I offer my plea and I accept full responsibility for this horrible tragedy. I assure you that this tragedy will continue to bear this burden for the rest of my life. Though I can not bring back Mr. Reyes or ease his family's pain, I can and will honor his memory by committing my time my resources and my voice to educating this community about the dangers of drunk driving."

The NFL may be preparing to take quick action against Stallworth after the guilty plea. According to the Akron Beacon-Journal, an NFL source said commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to discipline Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth before the start of training camp. Based upon recent history, it's likely that Goodell will suspend Stallworth for an undetermined amount of games.

There is precedent for the suspension of an NFL player due to a manslaughter conviction. In 1998, St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little received 90 days in jail for an involuntary manslaughter conviction for driving while drunk and killing another driver. Little received an 8-game suspension for the crime, according to the website ProFootballTalk.com.

But Stallworth may have another issue to worry about when it comes to the possibility of a league suspension. In a 2004 report, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Stallworth was in the league's substance abuse program. If it is Stallworth's second violation, a mandatory four game suspension would be in order.

CBS4.com's Tim Kephart contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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