thevalleyranchreport
08-26-2007, 06:32 PM
No Prison Time at All for Michael Vick?
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/sports.aol.com/fanhouse/media/2007/08/vicksmile.jpg
Michael David SmithPosted Aug 25th 2007 9:04AM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Falcons, Atlanta, NFL Police Blotter
We already know that Michael Vick has agreed to work as a government informant in exchange for a lenient sentence. But just how lenient will his sentence be?
In a column at ESPN.com, Howard Bryant drops a bombshell: According to Bryant, one of ESPN's legal experts thinks Vick might not have to do even one day in prison.
Vick likely faces 12-18 months in prison, but ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack believes it's possible Vick could provide enough information to federal investigators about the illegal, underground world of dogfighting and the people who finance it that he might not go jail at all.
Obviously, that would be the best-case scenario for Vick, and the more work Vick does as a cooperating witness, the more desperate he'll be to stay out of jail himself: Prison is generally not a comfortable place for someone who tried to save his own skin by working with law enforcement to get others thrown in the slammer.
But I don't believe this. I don't think there's any chance that Vick escapes prison time. He has just confessed to bankrolling a major criminal enterprise, and if he gets off without going to prison, it will send a message that the law treats the wealthy and famous differently from the rest of us. That's not a message that Judge Henry Hudson, who ultimately determines Vick's fate, wants to send.
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/sports.aol.com/fanhouse/media/2007/08/vicksmile.jpg
Michael David SmithPosted Aug 25th 2007 9:04AM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Falcons, Atlanta, NFL Police Blotter
We already know that Michael Vick has agreed to work as a government informant in exchange for a lenient sentence. But just how lenient will his sentence be?
In a column at ESPN.com, Howard Bryant drops a bombshell: According to Bryant, one of ESPN's legal experts thinks Vick might not have to do even one day in prison.
Vick likely faces 12-18 months in prison, but ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack believes it's possible Vick could provide enough information to federal investigators about the illegal, underground world of dogfighting and the people who finance it that he might not go jail at all.
Obviously, that would be the best-case scenario for Vick, and the more work Vick does as a cooperating witness, the more desperate he'll be to stay out of jail himself: Prison is generally not a comfortable place for someone who tried to save his own skin by working with law enforcement to get others thrown in the slammer.
But I don't believe this. I don't think there's any chance that Vick escapes prison time. He has just confessed to bankrolling a major criminal enterprise, and if he gets off without going to prison, it will send a message that the law treats the wealthy and famous differently from the rest of us. That's not a message that Judge Henry Hudson, who ultimately determines Vick's fate, wants to send.