My Sunday Feeling

Rumor has it that Micheal Vick is going to make a deal with federal prosecutors in the criminal case against in him in which he is accused of fronting the money for dogfighting, crossing state lines to engage in a gambling operation (this one has really got the keen interest of the NFL) and the generic charges about crossing state lines to commit various and sundry felonies. As I have said in this space before, my friend Don made the observation, back in the day when he used to defend white collar criminals back in Alabama, that state lines were troublesome things. They sure as hell are. They confer federal jurisdiction upon your misdeeds.

According to ESPN Radio, Vick has until Monday to make a deal. Otherwise, the feds will bust him with a superceding indictment in which they will stack additional charges on him. Although I certainly don't know, my guess is that they have cooked up some financial crimes on him. Tax stuff. Structuring transactions to avoid detection of money laundering. After all, these morons did deal in lots of cash. You know, the kind of shit that the feds sometimes use as a threat in order to induce the defendant to concentrate the mind as my buddy PM might say.

ESPN Radio also says-remember those halcyon days of yesteryear when you listened to the radio to actually listen to a game or to catch the scores?- that Vick is considering going to trial. I can't believe that. If memory serves, according to the indictment they've got 3 CIs (confidential informants) that will testify against him, his co-defendants have copped pleas in exchange for ratting him out and God knows what the physical evidence is going to show. If a jury gets ahold of this he is toast. And now the State of Virginia has announced that they are going to charge him as well under the state's criminal statutes on dogfighting.

Guilty pleas are little morality plays. The most dramatic one I ever heard about happened years ago in the El Dorado Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. It was Division day in the Bankruptcy Court down there as well. All of the bankruptcy lawyers that practiced in that Division were there. The Bankruptcy Judge-I believe it was Judge Mixon- heard a few matters then called a 10 minute recess. He then reappeared in his suit coat and took a seat in the front row.

The bailiff came out and announced that the District Court was then in session and the late Orren Harris-Roarin' Orren as he was known back then-took the bench. Then the Marshals escorted in one of the Trustees that practiced there who then pleaded out to bankruptcy fraud before his peers and before the Bankruptcy Judge. Talk about sending a message.

Most of the ones I have seen are far less operatic in nature. The prosecutor reads the charge into the record. The court asks the Defendant if it is intention to plead guilty. The Court will also remind the parties that it is not bound by any Plea Agreement and that an upward departure or a lower departure from the sentencing guidelines (yeah, right) might be imposed at the sentencing hearing. The court will ask the Defendant if he is about himself; when was the last time he took a drink, is he on any meds that might impair his judgment at that moment, that sort of thing. A plea must be "knowing and voluntary." The requirement of "knowing" is not satisfied fulfilled if you got a buzz on in court. The court will ask the Defendant if he is pleased with the representation and advice given to him by his lawyer. This is to preclude a successful appeal based upon ineffective assistance of counsel.

Then comes the morality play. Or as I once heard Judge Hendren gently put it to a young man before him who had falsified a credit application to get new tires, " Tell me what you did, son." And so the Defendant will then explain what brought him to the courthouse that day. Note to MV: The Psalmist instructs us that God wilt not despise a broken and contrite heart. Neither wilt the Judge. This is a good place in the show to at least try to fake it. Oh. One other thing. When you are given the chance to speak before the sentence is imposed? That's another excellent opportunity. Your lawyers will remind you of this. Repeatedly.
But that's not the end of it. Guilt or innocence(so to speak) are not just moral concepts in this context. They have to be conclusions of law. So, if the Court is satisfied as to testimony of the Defendant, he will hear the following: "I will accept your plea of guilty and I hereby find you guilty." Congratulations. You are now a felon with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto.

But I am getting ahead of myself. ESPN says Vick is weighing his options-if you want to call them that- and it is certainly his right to stand trial and to confront his accusers, which seem to have multiplied on a weekly basis.

My prosecutor buddy says that the last guy in gets the worst deal. Michael Vick is the last man in and the only man still standing. My best guess is that he is being strongly advised to get in and take his medicine and to not piss 'em off by being a smartass.

But who knows? Vick didn't get himself into this spot because he is the second coming of Wil Durant. And from what I can tell from my vantage point, he won't get out of it absent a miracle.

Program note: I was not able to do the usual blog alert that many of you actually like judging from the complaints I receive when I try to cease the practice. All of a sudden I can't send e-mail from Windows Vista. This is a bug that Microsoft hasn't come up with a patch for yet. The computer guy will come next week and hopefully fix the damn thing. I apologize for any inconvenience.