Legal analyst: Richard Sherman plea deal was ‘a fair sentence’

A deal with prosecutors saw former Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman plead guilty to three misdemeanor charges Monday. Given the relatively lighter sentence that came along with that deal, legal analyst Anne Bremner spoke to KTTH’s Jason Rantz Show to provide insight into whether Sherman received special treatment, or if this was a more typical outcome for cases like this.

Richard Sherman pleads guilty to three misdemeanor charges

Sherman initially pleaded not guilty to five misdemeanor charges last summer. After changing his plea to guilty, he was instead convicted of negligent driving in the first degree, criminal trespassing in the second degree, and speeding in a construction zone. Charges for resisting arrest and malicious mischief were dropped by the county.

In a statement released shortly after the charges were announced, the King County Prosecutor’s Office insisted that Sherman “did not get special treatment” in his sentencing, which Bremner believes to largely be an accurate assessment, with some caveats.

“I think that he’s a special circumstance because he has such extreme consequences to his career, and publicly those things can be taken into account when you look at what’s the appropriate sentence, and the purposes of sentencing or retribution, rehabilitation, and also a deterrent,” she opined.

Bremner — who helped lead defense efforts for Amanda Knox, and previously represented the family of Susan Cox Powell — also noted that after Sherman’s July 2021 arrest for driving drunk, crashing his car, and trying to break into his father-in-law’s home in Redmond, he revealed that he had sought mental health assistance and got on medication, indicating that he, “from the very beginning, took responsibility for what happened.”

Former Seahawks CB Richard Sherman reveals counseling, medication after July arrest

Taking that into account, there were a variety of factors at play when considering this particular case.

“Would I call it special treatment? Well, he’s Richard Sherman, and he had a very public meltdown for which he’s taken responsibility, and we want to basically have him straightened out and flying straight after this,” Bremner said. “We have mental health courts now; we have drug courts, and we try and look at issues that people may be having that aren’t necessarily adequately addressed in the criminal justice system.”

“I think this case was kind of treated as one where he had issues that needs to be resolved,” she added. “… I think that, all things considered, this is a fair sentence, and I hope for the best for him and for his family.”

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