Michael Vick scheduled to appear in federal court
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The charges listed against Michael Vick were decided by a secret panel and handed up to a Federal Judge in court papers known as an Indictment. But what does it really mean? We talked with Legal Analyst, Eric Plumlee, who breaks it all down.
Eric tells us an indictment is a charge issued by a grand jury. A grand jury takes in a certain set of facts and decides if there is probable cause that a crime has been committed. They issue what's called a True Bill or an Indictement and the Indictment will be used to bring Michael Vick to trial.
He also says that Vick can either turn himself in or get arrested.
"They can turn themselves in at which time the arrest procedure will take place where he'll be processed and a bond will be set and then a trial date will be set from that point."
He says at some point Vick will face a Judge for an Arraignment or initial appearance to hear the charges against him in Federal Court.
"When you hear of someone being charged federally it obviously seems more serious, but in reality the charges still need to be proven the same way, the maximum punishments may not exceed the state punishments and the system is very similar."
The only differences he says are that Federal Courts are more formal and have a certain level of intensity and a speedier docket. He figures a trial date for Vick is several months away.
At this time Plumlee thinks only a federal case will proceed against Vick and doesn't anticipate any state charges.
