There goes your credibility, counselor

"He is standing tall. He is a mature adult." — Attorney Benjamin Brafman on Plaxico Burress after the Giants' wide receiver was arraigned Monday on two separate counts of a weapons charge

o o o

Please.

I understand that lawyers are paid to lie — wait, did I say lie? I meant, put the best spin on a client and his situation. And as someone who has represented mobsters, Brafman has some practice with this. But calling Burress a mature adult?

By what standard, counselor?

There’s the 40-50 times Burress has been fined by the Giants for a variety of infractions. There’s his multiple suspensions. There’s his attitude about all of the above, which can be summed up in two words: Who cares?

Then there’s the maturity he demonstrated Friday night, not only in shooting himself in the thigh with a gun he had stuck in the waistband of his sweatpants, but afterward at a hospital, where he gave his name as “Harris Smith,” as though the 6-foot, 5-inch athlete with the scraggly beard — a hero of last year’s Super Bowl — could go unrecognized.

Then there was his reaction to his impending arrest — laughter, according to some of his New York teammates.

I think I’d drop the “mature adult” theme, counselor. If Burress is a “mature adult,” then Sammy "the Bull" Gravano — your former client — is Mother Theresa.