BROKEN PROMISE

Twenty Years After His Greatest Triumph, Ex-Baseball Star Dwight Gooden Is
Sentenced To 1 Year And 1 Day For Violating Probation With Cocaine. Some Say
It Won't Do Any Good.

TAMPA - Even 20 years after Dwight "Doc" Gooden won the World Series
with the 1986 New York Mets, the cameras still watch him.

This was to be Gooden's first year of eligibility for baseball's Hall
of Fame. Instead, it marks the first time the 41-year-old former
pitcher's continuing legal problems will send him to a Florida
penitentiary.

On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Gooden to prison for one year and one
day.

Television news crews followed as he was led handcuffed out of a
Hillsborough County courtroom.

Afterward, Gooden's attorney offered support.

"This is not the case of a pampered athlete," Peter Hobson said. "This
is not a case or a situation where someone said, 'Hey, I played ball.
You need to treat me differently.' He took it like a man."

In the past six months, Hobson said, Gooden had turned himself in,
asked for drug treatment and admitted to a relapse. Recovery would
come, Hobson said.

Prosecutors said Gooden will serve about 85 percent of the sentence.
He has served 93 days, including time in the county jail and in a
secure drug treatment facility.

Gooden should be home in about seven months.

After prison, he will no longer have the obligations of probation. He
will have no meetings with probation officers. He will have no
curfews. He will have no drug tests.

Friends, legal experts and addiction specialists worry about what will
happen to Gooden after his release.

Former Mets teammate Wally Backman, who lives in Oregon, said he
doubts prison will do much for Gooden.

"All he will do is dry out," Backman said. "I don't think he will get
the help he needs."

Gooden, Backman said, needs long-term treatment to kick his addiction
for good.

Choosing His Fate

It has been a bad several months for Gooden.

In August, Tampa police pulled over his BMW after he was driving
erratically. Gooden, police said, smelled of alcohol.

He fled, disappeared for three days, then turned himself in.

At the time, Gooden was out on bail after an arrest earlier last year
on a domestic violence charge.

In November, Gooden was given his final break. He was sentenced to
three years' probation. Regular drug tests were mandatory. He was not
allowed to leave the county.

After several weeks at a treatment center, Gooden was released as an
outpatient. Then, three weeks ago, Gooden made a confession to his
probation officer. He said he would test positive for cocaine.

In court Wednesday, Gooden said he had driven to St. Petersburg, a
violation of his probation, to meet a drug dealer.

"I have a problem with cocaine, sir," Gooden told Hillsborough Circuit
Judge Daniel Perry. "I was doing well for six months, and I had a relapse."

Perry had stern words for the fallen athlete.

"Mr. Gooden, it looks to me like while you're in the program, you're
doing fine," Perry said. "As soon as you get out, you relapse."

Perry gave Gooden a choice.

He said Gooden could return to probation with a warning. Should he
violate it again - should he test positive for drugs, should he miss a
meeting with a probation officer, should he leave the county - he
would serve the maximum sentence, five years in prison.

The other option, Perry said, was a relatively short stay in state
prison.

"My advice to you?" Perry said. "Take the year and a day. Get this
behind you, and I'm out of your life."

Gooden chose prison.

Prosecutors said that by opting for prison, Gooden was admitting he
couldn't quit the drug and was giving up on himself.

"This just shows the significance and power of an addiction,"
Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said.

Bondi said she called the Florida Department of Corrections and found
a few prisons that offer drug treatment. Perry said Gooden could go to
one of those facilities.

Addiction And Probation

Brian Gonzalez, a Tampa defense lawyer not related to the case, said
probation is not an easy alternative to prison. He advises some
clients to take a short prison term rather than a long stint on probation.

"I think [Gooden] made a wise and responsible decision," Gonzalez
said. "It becomes evident early on whether or not you are going to be
the type of person who will comply with the terms of probation."

Gooden's first violation came less than four months into his
probation.

"If he's looking at a five-year prison term, history tells us it would
be just a matter of time before that would be imposed," Gonzalez said

After prison, Gooden's problems may not be over, Gonzalez said. He
said he has had many clients who finish prison, then seek him out when
they have been charged with new crimes. This is especially true after
drug convictions.

Gonzalez said life after prison will bring three possibilities for
Gooden: He will stay sober, he will get arrested again, or he will
continue his substance abuse while dodging legal intervention.

"Now, he won't have a probation officer looking over his shoulder, and
he won't have random drug screenings to deal with," Gonzalez said.
"That can be a recipe for disaster."

Joseph Pursch, a California psychiatrist and addictions specialist
whose clients have included Betty Ford and Buzz Aldrin, said Gooden's
situation is not unique for professional athletes and other
celebrities.

"They get too much leeway always," Pursch said. "We kill these people
by giving them chance after chance."

Pursch, who has not met Gooden, said celebrities are constantly
surrounded by sycophants who want to "help," even if that means
providing drugs or excuses for improper behavior.

This coddling can extend into medical care or the legal system, he
said.

If a celebrity is in a hospital, the chief of the department will come
out to draw their blood, even if the chief hasn't drawn blood in 10
years. In court, Pursch said, celebrities are given chances they do
not deserve.

"We let them out and give them passes when we shouldn't," he said. "We
give them probation when they should be in jail. ... Addiction is the
one disease where power is the last thing you need."

When average people feel bad, Pursch said, they take naps or find
other ways to take breaks. When addicts have a bad day, they return to
the drug, no matter the consequences.

"Anyone will tell you, [Gooden] doesn't know how not to go back to
cocaine," Pursch said. "Whatever he needs to get, he has not gotten.
But it's not too late. As long as he is breathing, there is a chance."

Research by Diane K. Grey