BALTIMORE (Reuters) - The Baltimore Ravens have signed controversial wide receiver Donte' Stallworth on a one-year contract, the NFL team said on Wednesday.
Stallworth, 29, a former Cleveland Browns player, was suspended for the entire 2009 season for a manslaughter conviction after killing a pedestrian in Miami while driving under the influence of alcohol. He served 24 days of a 30-day jail sentence.
Stallworth was reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodell after the Super Bowl and released by the Browns the next day.
"I will never get that morning back," Stallworth said in a statement on the Ravens website (www.baltimoreravens.com). "It weighs on me every day and will for the rest of my life...I have to show otherwise that what happened doesn't reflect who I am."
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said the team had given a lot of thought to signing Stallworth.
"We've done extensive research into Donte' beyond football," Newsome said in a statement. "He made a huge mistake. There's no doubt about that. He has paid a significant price....As Steve (owner Steve Bisciotti) has said, we believe in second chances, and Donte' does deserve that."
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina, Editing by John Mehaffey)
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