August 20, 2007

The case against Michael Vick

A very nice one-page précis of the case against NFL Star Michael Vick written by a sports lawyer:
Details of Vick plea agreement will impact NFL future

Why did Michael Vick enter into an agreement to plead guilty?
In strictly legal terms, this is an agreement by Vick. In the bigger picture, it's a surrender. Vick is admitting his guilt because he and his legal team realized that there is no escape from the charges related to the federal dogfighting case. They wanted to negotiate with federal prosecutors, and they wanted to negotiate with the NFL. Instead of a negotiation from the prosecutors, Vick and his lawyers kept receiving bad news from them. That trend would have continued with additional charges being filed if Vick's legal team had not given up the fight on Monday afternoon. Instead of a negotiation with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about the manner in which the league intended to punish Vick, Vick and his legal team received a cold shoulder. When they could not negotiate, they had no alternative. They had to surrender.

If the federal case against Vick is so overwhelming, why would the federal prosecutors agree to accept Vick's plea of guilty?
The job of a federal prosecutor is to seek justice, not to seek revenge or punishment. Whenever an accused individual is willing to admit guilt and accept the consequences, federal prosecutors are interested. A guilty plea brings the case to a final conclusion. It saves hundreds of thousands of dollars in trial preparation, and it avoids any chance something could go wrong in the trial that would allow a guilty defendant to go free. In the dogfighting case, it was important to the prosecution team that Vick admit he was doing wrong. It is a major step forward in a national effort to eliminate dogfighting.
These and five more -- sums it up very nicely. Vick is looking at a year or two in the slammer... Posted by DaveH at August 20, 2007 8:58 PM