A late afternoon Vick update (with federal guideline musings)

The latest news on Michael Vick’s plea scramble can be found from CNN and the New York Times.  As both stories note, two of Vick’s co-defendants pleaded guilty today and they have indicated that “the NFL star helped execute dogs that didn’t fight well” and that “the money behind the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation, based on property Vick owns in Virginia, came ‘almost exclusively’ from the Atlanta Falcons star.”

These additional details suggest that Vick’s plea negotiations may be focused on some bad newz sentencing guidelines, which would call for a sentence enhancement based on Vick’s apparent leadership role in criminal activity under USSG section 3B1.1.  (I also wonder if anyone has every tried to apply Chapter 3 victim-based enhancements for vulnerability or restraint to non-human victims.)  I would bet that defense lawyers are helping Vick see that he now could be facing a quite long sentence if he does not take a plea, but prosecutors may now already looking for a significant prison term even with a plea.

Some recent related posts:

• Looking over the defense as Vick considers his moves
• Who knows what guidelines apply to dog fighting?
• Vick being sacked by the collateral consequences of an indictment
• Friday forum: what sentence should Vick get if he pleads guilty?