Michael Vick - in the dog days of summer, he may plea bargain

by James on July 28th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Michael is hurting

The talk had already begun. Vick will get off, because he is rich.

The moaning increased. It seems to be the attitude of all time that the rich can walk off scott free.

Well, it may not be that simple after all. True, Michael will have a high powered legal defense team including Washington D.C. attorney Billy Martin. No, not that Billy Martin. This Billy Martin would be All Pro if Lawyers had such a thing.

Maybe they do. It is called high fees.

Michael Vick gets on his hands and knees

So can Michael plea bargain his way out of this?

Since Michael put up the money for the operation that would make him the kingpin, so there is realistically no one for him to give up.

Nevertheless, the two reasons why Vick may still be able to make a deal are: First, there would be a value to both sides if Vick is the first defendant to try and do a deal — the government would be more likely to accept such a deal than if he were the last defendant to seek a deal. Second, the government knows that if it has to actually try Vick, it will be going up against a high-powered defense team, including prominent D.C. attorney Billy Martin, whereas, if they do a deal with Vick and take the other three defendants to trial, they will not be facing anywhere near as well-financed a legal defense. source

So what happens to Michael if he is convicted?

If he were convicted of everything in the indictment, he could get a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine (plus restitution), as opposed to the six years and $350,000 that has been widely reported. The reason he can’t get more than the five years and $250,000 is because he’s been charged with only one count that contains one conspiracy. I have personally confirmed the five-year, $250,000 maximum with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Richmond, which is prosecuting the case.

Michael Vick stays home

In the meantime; the judge put some severe restrictions tied to the bail.

The judge’s travel restriction places 49 states off limits to Michael Vick. This means that even in the unlikely event that NFL commissioner Goodell’s investigation ends with a reinstatement of Vick to his team, he simply could not function as the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.

You would expect his lawyers to argue to allow him to travel to other states for football games, which is his livelihood.

You would also expect that the NFL would suspend him from playing anyway.

Why would Michael go for the plea bargain route?

The government charged him with one count that contains one conspiracy.

That one conspiracy, according to the indictment, was to violate two different federal statutes. The two statutes he has been charged with conspiring to violate are 1) participating in dogfighting across state lines and 2) traveling across state lines for the purpose of gambling (this is known as violating the “Travel Act”). Oddly enough, he is not charged with actually violating the dogfighting statute or the Travel Act — he is only charged with a conspiracy to violate those two statutes.

The government also threatened to charge him with the actual act of violating the statutes and possible racketeering, which contains a sentence up o 20 years.

The feds announced that they will be filing a superceding indictment in August. Since there was only one count in the original indictment, I would expect that there will be multiple counts added that could elaborate on the dogfighting and gambling aspects of the crime and, to make matters worse, there could be racketeering charges filed against Vick based on the gambling aspects of dogfighting.

Oh, Michael Vick, you are in some deep doggie doo this time.

NFL Football Fan Question Would you take the plea bargain?

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Tags: atlanta, Atlanta Falcons, charges, contract, dog-fighting, dogs, falcons, michael_vick, mike-vick, nfl, nfl_football, pit_bulls, plea-bargain, quarterback

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