CNN) -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has accepted a plea deal that could send him to prison, ending a federal dogfighting prosecution that jeopardizes his pro football career, a Virginia newspaper is reporting.
Vick will plead guilty to felony conspiracy next Monday, defense attorney Lawrence Woodward told the Virginian-Pilot, of Norfolk, Virginia.
The newspaper reports that the plea will help Vick avoid additional federal charges.
"Mike's accepting full responsibility," Woodward told the newspaper. "He's going to do everything he can personally and professionally to make this situation right."
Federal prosecutors had offered a deal recommending an 18- to 36-month prison sentence. Vick's attorneys were trying to reduce that to less than a year, two sources told CNN on Monday.
It was not immediately clear whether Vick's attorneys have heard back Monday from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell's office. They wanted to clarify Vick's career options before entering into any deal with federal prosecutors, the sources said.
Vick's three codefendants in the dogfighting case have accepted agreements to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.
If Vick doesn't accept a deal, he could face additional charges in the case on Monday, when a grand jury convenes in Richmond, Virginia. See a timeline of the case against Vick »
The NFL is considering what, if any, sanctions they should impose on the 27-year-old suspended Atlanta Falcons player.
Court documents released last week showed that two of Vick's alleged partners said he helped kill dogs that didn't fight well, and that all three men "executed approximately eight dogs" in ways that included hanging and drowning.
The dogs were killed because they fared poorly in "testing" sessions in April at Vick's property in Virginia where the dogfighting venture was based, according to documents released following plea agreement hearings Friday for Purnell Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, and Quanis Phillips, 28, of Atlanta.
A third man, Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Virginia, already had his plea deal approved.
In the court documents, Peace and Phillips said that the money behind the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation came "almost exclusively" from Vick, and they told prosecutors that other accusations in the 18-page indictment are true.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/20/vick/index.html
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Vick will plead guilty to felony conspiracy next Monday, defense attorney Lawrence Woodward told the Virginian-Pilot, of Norfolk, Virginia.
The newspaper reports that the plea will help Vick avoid additional federal charges.
"Mike's accepting full responsibility," Woodward told the newspaper. "He's going to do everything he can personally and professionally to make this situation right."
Federal prosecutors had offered a deal recommending an 18- to 36-month prison sentence. Vick's attorneys were trying to reduce that to less than a year, two sources told CNN on Monday.
It was not immediately clear whether Vick's attorneys have heard back Monday from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell's office. They wanted to clarify Vick's career options before entering into any deal with federal prosecutors, the sources said.
Vick's three codefendants in the dogfighting case have accepted agreements to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.
If Vick doesn't accept a deal, he could face additional charges in the case on Monday, when a grand jury convenes in Richmond, Virginia. See a timeline of the case against Vick »
The NFL is considering what, if any, sanctions they should impose on the 27-year-old suspended Atlanta Falcons player.
Court documents released last week showed that two of Vick's alleged partners said he helped kill dogs that didn't fight well, and that all three men "executed approximately eight dogs" in ways that included hanging and drowning.
The dogs were killed because they fared poorly in "testing" sessions in April at Vick's property in Virginia where the dogfighting venture was based, according to documents released following plea agreement hearings Friday for Purnell Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, and Quanis Phillips, 28, of Atlanta.
A third man, Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Virginia, already had his plea deal approved.
In the court documents, Peace and Phillips said that the money behind the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation came "almost exclusively" from Vick, and they told prosecutors that other accusations in the 18-page indictment are true.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/20/vick/index.html
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