STRAWBERRY SENT TO JAIL, CANCER TREATMENT

Former baseball great Darryl Strawberry, already in jail for
violating probation, will be sent to prison unless he buckles down
and adheres to his chemotherapy treatment, a Hillsborough County
circuit judge vowed Thursday.

Strawberry, who has been in the county jail since Oct. 25 for going
on a drug binge, told Judge Florence Foster that he had learned his
lesson.

But Foster sentenced him to another two weeks in jail, followed by
two years' house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor and one year
of probation after that.

The eight-time All-Star will most likely be released from jail next
week, however. He will get credit for time already served, plus an
automatic five-day credit given to nonviolent offenders to ease jail
crowding.

Prosecutors from the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office criticized
Foster's decision.

"The sentence is too light,'' said assistant prosecutor Robin Fuson.
"This is his third violation.''

It was the second time in less than two weeks that the 38-year-old
former New York Yankees outfielder has appeared before Foster. He
told her last week that he had lost his will to live and stopped his
chemotherapy treatment in jail. He underwent surgery this year for
colon cancer, and lost a kidney.

Strawberry is in custody for violating probation by breaking curfew
and using drugs. He allegedly left a Tampa residential drug treatment
center to smoke crack cocaine and pop antidepressants with a woman.

A handful of supporters tried to convince Foster on Thursday that
prison is not the place for Strawberry.

And though he did not testify, New York Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden
sat in the courtroom in support of Strawberry, too.

The key witness at Thursday's hearing was John LaPook, a New York
internist who diagnosed Strawberry's colon cancer two years ago.
LaPook, testifying via telephone, recommended that Strawberry be sent
to Minnesota to the renowned Hazelden facility for drug and alcohol
addiction and the Mayo Clinic for his cancer.

But Strawberry rejected that, telling Foster no one was "going to run
him out of Tampa.''

Handcuffed and dressed in orange and blue county jail clothes and
looking resigned, Strawberry made an impassioned plea to Foster,
saying he was ready to commit to his recovery.

"I can't run from myself anymore,'' he said. "I understand the bottom
that I've hit. I have to be responsible for my recovery.''

Once he is released from jail, Strawberry will have to live at the
Health Care Connection of Tampa, a substance abuse treatment center
that he walked away from last month.

He will also undergo chemotherapy at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

Strawberry was arrested last year for cocaine possession and
soliciting a prostitute. He tested positive for cocaine in January
and was suspended from baseball, then was involved in a hit-and-run
accident in September while taking prescription drugs.