Quote:
Originally Posted by jdawgsenior
Why in the world is Tim Donaghy getting up to 25 years and harsh monetary punishment for being in a gambling ring, while Mike Vick is (AFAIK) getting no more than six years (and reportedly much, much less than that) for being in a dogfighting ring? Why is the one considered that much worse than the other? (And why is dogfighting not punished more harshly?)
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I am no legal expert, but I think it would be the combination of the number of counts against him and the specific crimes he is being charged for and the sentencing guidlines for those charges. So, for Donaghy's case, let's say he admitted to 50 counts of fixing basketball games with each carrying a maximum of 6 months and a $20,000 fine. Meanwhile Vick the combination of counts and maximum punishment in Vick's case would then be much less.
For a federal indictment it is about what the Feds believe they can prove in the courtroom beyond a reasonable doubt, not how heinous each individual crime is perceived to be. Therefore some less violent criminals end up doing more time than much harder criminals, based on the number of times they committed the crime.