He has been charged in federal court, and for those who don’t know what that means, let me tell you: It means Vick is almost certainly guilty. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 99 percent of the people indicted by the federal government between 2000 and 2005 were convicted.

Did you catch that number? It was 99 percent. Guilty. How can that be? This is how: The U.S. government doesn’t indict just anybody, and certainly wouldn’t indict Vick or anyone else for headlines. The government is far too busy and far too cheap to waste its time and money pursuing a trial against a defendant that has even a remote chance of winning. The U.S. government only indicts you if it believes it can and will convict you.

This isn’t a guy who deserves the benefit of the doubt. He has shown horrible judgment over and over, from the Ron Mexico herpes incident to the middle finger he showed the home crowd to the James Bond water bottle he used in an unsuccessful attempt at sneaking marijuana jewelry onto an airplane. None of those cases led to any sort of conviction in a court of law, but Pacman Jones is serving a one-year suspension from the NFL and as of today, he has been convicted of nothing. He hasn’t even been indicted by the federal government, as Vick has.

Vick is charged with “conspiracy” and violations of the “Travel Act." What does that mean?

The conspiracy charge will make things extra difficult for Vick and his lawyers. Under federal laws, the conspiracy charge allows federal prosecutors to link Vick to things that occurred even if he was not present. If the prosecutors can connect the four defendants, crimes committed by one of them can be used to add to the evidence against the others. It’s a tricky legal procedure that prosecutors love and defense lawyers detest. The Travel Act is a device invented by Robert F. Kennedy when he was U.S. Attorney General in the early '60s. It was designed for use against organized crime and made it easier to prove cases against hoodlums. In the sports world, it was used most recently in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bribery scandal. Federal prosecutors charged the Utah organizers under the Travel Act and proved millions of dollars in bribes. Vick, however, can take some hope from the fact that U.S. District Judge David Sam found the organizers not guilty of violating the Travel Act even though there was powerful evidence of bribery.

firewolf81 wrote: Anyone got a plane ticket...Ive got some business to take care of in North Carolina.

The Phenom wrote: Well then call me crazy because I am going to defend him for minute here neither of us know all the fact or evidence in this case it is still pending if he is convicted or confesses to this crime then maybe you would be able to talk about him the way that you are but untill then I’ll presume him innocent untill proven guilty

gg wrote: Also, consider this quote...



The important one there for you consider is the “conspiracy” charge. It’s a ball-breaker.