Briggs gets no jail time, $495 in fines

There were 137 cases inside Skokie's traffic ticket and misdemeanor courtroom Thursday afternoon.

All eyes were on one of them.

And that, Cook County Judge Earl Hoffenberg said, is precisely why it made more sense to sentence Lance Briggs to community service than to slap the Bears linebacker with a fine that wouldn't dent his $7 million salary.

Hoffenberg ordered Briggs to spend 15 eight-hour days working with students -- specifically, talking to them about the importance of driving safely -- as part of his punishment for the August night when he crashed his Lamborghini, abandoned it on the Edens Expressway and called it in as a stolen car before turning himself in.

"You understand you're in the public eye," Hoffenberg told Briggs. "And as such, children and young adults -- they really kind of look up to you. They really pay attention to what you say and what you do."

Briggs, who pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident and admitted he had failed to immediately report the crash, also was sentenced to one year of supervision and ordered to pay $485 in fines. The supervision penalty means he could land back in a courtroom, possibly facing a jail sentence, should he net any sort of violation. That could include a speeding ticket.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a citation for improper lane usage.

Attorneys on both sides said they believed the deal was fair.

"It's up to him now," assistant state's attorney Rick Cenar said after the brief hearing. "Hopefully, kids will get the message that they have to drive safely and be careful on the roads."

Cenar said Briggs was heading north on the Edens Expressway at a "high rate of speed" in the early morning hours of Aug. 27 when he lost control of his 2007 black Lamborghini and hit the embankment near the Devon Road exit. The $600,000 car spun around and landed in a grassy area along the highway, facing the other direction, Cenar said. At that point, Cenar said, Briggs left the scene -- but, minutes later, called 911 to report his car stolen.

That was about 3:40 a.m., prosecutors said. By 5 a.m., Cenar said, Briggs had phoned state police and admitted to the accident, telling them he was at his Northbrook home. When an officer arrived to speak with him about an hour later, he didn't answer the door, prosecutors said.

Later that afternoon, about 12 hours after the smashed Lamborghini was abandoned, Briggs turned himself in to the police.

Briggs has no criminal history, and his only driving-related flaws -- his license was suspended for a time in both Arizona and California because of ticket issues -- date back to high school and college, his attorney, Frank Himel, said.

Himel called Briggs a "successful young man" who's been "polite and courteous" throughout the process.

"He's here today accepting responsibility for one night of poor decision making," Himel said, telling the judge such a situation is unlikely to occur again. Hoffenberg concurred.

Briggs, who arrived at court wearing a pinstripe suit and reflective sunglasses and signed autographs for fans afterward, declined comment.

He did tell the judge he understood the consequences of pleading guilty.