When the law and sports intersect I turn to Rob Becker, legal analyst for FoxSports.com. You can check out his views on Tim Donaghy’s plea deal here or Michael Vick’s arraignment here. Rob stays busy but he set aside some time to answer a few questions about the Michael Vick case for YBB.
HG: Since it looks like Michael Vick is going to accept a plea, can you tell us what that means for him and his defense team?
RB: Well from Michael Vick’s standpoint, he’s looking at the possibility that next week the prosecution would bring additional charges against him that would expose him to additional time in prison, and if he can plead guilty this week to what he’s already been charged with he can ensure that those additional charges won’t come down. Plus, he knows that he’s probably going to be convicted anyway because there are at least 7 witnesses against him now plus a ton of documents. So from that perspective, he should plead guilty and he can also probably get about 4 months taken off his sentence. By taking a plea and accepting responsibility for his actions Vick will probably be sentenced to 6-12 mos under the federal sentencing guidelines. However, if the government can portray him to the judge as a leader of the dog fighting enterprise, then under the sentencing guidelines he could get 12-18 mos. It may well be that what the prosecutors and Vick’s lawyers are negotiating over is whether Vick should be considered to be a leader of the dog fighting enterprise.
HG: And how do things look from the government’s side?
RB: From the prosecution’s perspective, if they can get him to plead guilty to everything he’s been charged with so far that’s a pretty good result it seems to me. You don’t have to win the game 100 to nothing. And at least they would be spared a trial against a high-powered defense team so I think there’s something in it for both of them.
HG: How much prison time is Vick avoiding by pleading out and when would you expect to see him on the field again?
RB: There’s a couple of things. First of all, I think if he pleads guilty he will almost certainly miss not just the ’07 season but also the ’08 season because he won’t start his prison term immediately. His best hope is to come back in ’09. If he took it to trial, by then he would have those additional charges and maybe he would end up with something like 3 years in prison, maybe he wouldn’t come back until the 2011 season. Those years matter. If he comes back in ’09 he’ll be 29 years old, so taking the plea makes sense for him as long as he’s not hoping he’ll come back too quickly.
HG: There’s been a major backlash against Michael Vick causing him to lose some endorsement deals. We’ve seen other athletes bounce back after serious legal problems, so what are the chances of any company doing business with Michael in the future?
RB: Given the reaction to his alleged crimes, it’s so strongly against him. We don’t see the normal kind of split in opinion that we see in a lot of other cases. I think that although it’s not unrealistic to think that he can come back and be a quarterback, I think it is unrealistic to think that he could get endorsements. I don’t think anyone wants to associate themselves with a dog fighter, particularly if he pleads guilty to dog fighting. If I were him I’d be happy enough to be paid by a team to play football and I wouldn’t be thinking that I’d be making additional monies from endorsements.
HG: The majority of people agree that dog fighting is inhumane, but would you agree that this case has been motivated by Michael Vick’s fame?
RB: I think that in a sense the government stumbled upon this. They were trying to prosecute his cousin for drug charges. When they went to the property, they stumbled upon the dog fighting ring. When you’re a prosecutor, that’s what you do. If you find out about a crime you prosecute it. I don’t think they were motivated by Michael Vick’s fame. Furthermore, when they discovered the disgusting aspect of this case what would stop them from wanting to go forward and prosecute? I think that would be the next logical thing to do once you learned the gruesome details.
Latest could mean more trouble for Vick. Courtesy of Rob Becker and Fox Sports
What Donaghy’s Deal Means. Courtesy of Rob Becker and Fox Sports
