TAMPA, Fla. -- Darryl Strawberry vowed to try again to beat
his drug addiction and colon cancer, and a judge agreed to set him
free before the end of the month.
Strawberry will spend at least another week in jail, based on a
sentence handed down Thursday by Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge
Florence Foster. She sentenced him to 30 days -- but with time
served and other credit received under county rules, Strawberry
could be out in about 10 days.
|  | | Darryl Strawberry listens as his attorney, Joseph Ficarrotta, makes a point in court Thursday. |
She also advised Strawberry to resume chemotherapy for his colon
cancer, warning him that without it, "you're history."
Strawberry also will wear an electronic monitor when he's
returned to drug treatment. He will undergo drug tests three times
a week, attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings and has taken a
spiritual adviser at Foster's request.
Strawberry agreed to try one more time to beat his
life-threatening problems.
"I've never committed a crime, I have never harmed anybody,"
Strawberry told Foster. "I just stand in front of this court and
plead with you to let me go in this direction."
Meanwhile, in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Strawberry
says his athletic career is over.
"I've called it over for me. That's it. I'm done. I'm not going
to play sports anymore," Strawberry told "Dateline NBC."
The 38-year-old Strawberry will remain on house arrest for two
years. Prosecutors said they believed the sentence he received
Thursday was too light and asked that Strawberry be sent to prison
because they feared he could be dangerous to others.
"I hate to sound cynical, but I am," said Robin Fuson, the
assistant state attorney who oversees drug court prosecutions. "I
have seen very few people complete these sentences."
With friends in the courtroom audience, including pitcher Dwight
Gooden, Strawberry told the judge that going to jail likely saved
his life.
"I just feel bad," Gooden said. "I just feel terrible because
that's someone who is basically like a family member going through
a situation like this."
A week ago, Strawberry told Foster that he used drugs and
stopped chemotherapy because he lost his will to live. Now,
supporters are saying they believe that Strawberry is rebounding.
Joseph Ficarrotta, Strawberry's attorney, spent the morning
arguing against sending him to prison, saying his aggressive form
of cancer needs specialized treatment he couldn't get from prison
doctors.
Earlier this year, Strawberry underwent surgery to remove a
kidney as the cancer spread. He received chemotherapy treatments
with very strong drugs, and doctors are considering using
experimental medicine against the disease.
Jonathan LaPook, the New York doctor overseeing Strawberry's
medical care, said Strawberry has no time to further delay his
chemotherapy.
"Every bone in my body, every intuition tells me with Darryl we
are in an emergency situation," LaPook testified via telephone
from New York.
Ficarrotta said he was worried the side effects of chemotherapy,
which include dehydration, could turn dangerous for Strawberry in
prison because he wouldn't get adequate care.
A doctor for the Florida Department of Corrections testified
that ill inmates are confined in a prison hospital and said
Strawberry would have the same access to all the treatment inside
prison that he would outside.
Foster, who originally placed Strawberry on probation for a 1999
arrest for drug possession and soliciting a prostitute, told
Strawberry he was getting another chance, but warned him she'd send
him to prison if he violates rules again.
"If you can't make it on the outside, I'll find a place where
you can get treatment on the inside," she warned. | |
ALSO SEE
Darryl Strawberry chronology
Strawberry stuns court with death-wish soliloquy
Strawberry's lawyer changes defense strategy
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