[ThePundit]

Former Major League baseball pitcher Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attempted murder of five workers on his family's ranch, the Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.

Urbina, a former pitcher with the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, was also found guilty of illegal deprivation of liberty and violating a prohibition against taking justice into his own hands during a dispute over a gun on Oct. 16, 2005, according to a statement from the Attorney General's Office.


The 32-year-old free agent was accused of joining a group of men in attacking and injuring workers with machetes and pouring gasoline on them at his family's ranch, located about 25 miles south of Caracas.

"The ruling was too severe," said Jose Antonio Baez, a former attorney who represented Urbina.

Urbina repeatedly has denied involvement with the violence, saying he was sleeping at the time of the attack.

The pitcher's lawyer, Jose Luis Tamayo, has said that Urbina surprised the workers by showing up at his ranch that night while they were bathing in the pool without permission. Urbina spoke sharply to them, but later left and went to sleep, according to Tamayo.

Urbina, a two-time All-Star, last pitched in the major leagues with the Phillies in 2005. He's 30th on the all-time saves list with 237. He had two saves in the 2003 World Series for the victorious Marlins.

Urbina sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted murder - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
Take Urbina off your "sleeper" fantasy lists.

[Lefty Noob]

"The ruling was too severe," said Jose Antonio Baez, a former attorney who represented Urbina.

Too severe? 14 years for 5 counts of attempted murder is too severe? Wow. Well, anyway, I guess that closes the book on Uggie's career, eh? Another case of a professional athlete making stupid decisions. Are Pacman Jones and the Cincinnati Bengals listening?

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Too severe? 14 years for 5 counts of attempted murder is too severe? Wow. Well, anyway, I guess that closes the book on Uggie's career, eh? Another case of a professional athlete making stupid decisions. Are Pacman Jones and the Cincinnati Bengals listening?

He's a relief pitcher...an Ace starter would haave gotten away with 5-10...

[MJHMarc]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Too severe? 14 years for 5 counts of attempted murder is too severe? Wow. Well, anyway, I guess that closes the book on Uggie's career, eh? Another case of a professional athlete making stupid decisions. Are Pacman Jones and the Cincinnati Bengals listening?

You don't expect him to return to the mound after jail and stink anymore? He had a decent career, with some nice days in Texas. But otherwise, I wouldn't consider him one of the top relievers in the game.

[legend]

Be glad we live in a country like ours because this whole case sounded contrived from the start.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Well, look at it this way. If he ever gets out early enough to come back to baseball, he'll be an unconditional bad-arse.

I mean, if you just got brushed off the plate by some dude who got a lengthy jail term sentence for rounding up a bunch of people with machetes and dousing them with gasoline - because they jumped in his pool - wouldn't you think twice before eying him down?

He's got to come back. Just to bean people.