TROUBLED SLUGGER STRAWBERRY FACES POSSIBLE PRISON TIME

Tampa, Fla -- Darryl Strawberry said Friday he has been told that his
"brain is broken" from years of cocaine abuse, but he vowed to continue
fighting the drug problem for which prosecutors want to send him to prison.

"My addiction has been very strong and very powerful," Strawberry said in a
brief statement to Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster.

"I have never quit trying to fight the demons and I won't quit trying to
fight the demons. I do care about recovering. I don't know why I go out and
use drugs. I don't know what happens to me."

Foster is scheduled to sentence Strawberry on May 17 for violating house
arrest and probation.

Strawberry disappeared from a drug treatment center March 29, surfacing
four days later and telling his probation officer that a woman who gave him
a ride to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting began smoking crack and he could
not resist joining in.

The former New York Yankee outfielder has spent the last month in a
psychiatric ward at a Tampa hospital, where doctors said Friday they
discovered he has more serious mental problems than previously thought.

One psychologist said Strawberry might have sustained brain damage from
years of cocaine abuse. His mental and medical problems were keeping him
from beating his drug addiction, the doctors said.

"My brain is broken, and it has to be fixed," Strawberry told the judge.

His attorney, Joe Ficarrotta, says the former All-Star should be sent to a
secure residential treatment program.

State prosecutors and Strawberry's probation officer want at least an
18-month prison sentence.

"He needs to get his punishment, we haven't given it to him yet," Assistant
State Attorney Darrell Dirks said. "He needs to know we mean business."

Psychologist Sidney Marin said a series of tests last week indicated
Strawberry's brain might not be functioning properly. He was slow to
complete simple cognitive tests and made many errors, Marin said.

"He can't think quickly, can't think of the various ramifications around
him," Marin said.

The psychologist told the judge the possible brain damage might be keeping
Strawberry from learning how to fight his drug habit.

"That doesn't make him an immoral individual," Marin said.

Strawberry's cancer doctor said he must continue aggressive treatment for
colon cancer if he stands a chance of beating the disease.

"Part of us want to take Darryl by the shoulders and shake him and say
'snap out of it,' gastroenterologist Jonathan LaPook said. "Darryl has no
more chance of snapping out of his addiction than an asthmatic has of
snapping out of his tendency to wheeze."