Sources: Prosecutors offering Vick 18-36 months if he takes dog fighting plea
(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors have offered a plea deal recommending an 18- to 36-month prison sentence for suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick for his alleged role in a dogfighting operation, but Vick's attorneys are trying to reduce that to less than a year, two sources told CNN on Monday.
Vick's attorneys hope to hear back from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell's office sometime Monday about 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.
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.
