WSB's Veronica Waters reports attorney Billy Martin, visiting Atlanta for the Georgia Bar and Media Conference, acknowledged that the defense team "absolutely" thinks the state charges against Vick amount to double jeopardy.

Virginia law states that a federal case shall be "a bar" to any state case based on the same elements, and Martin indicated that the team will file a motion to have the case dismissed on that law. He said he would not discuss details of the planned motion. Vick's state trial is slated for early March.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence after pleading guilty to the federal case in August. The state crimes carry five-year maximum penalties.

Martin also revealed that he believes had he been brought in to the Vick case earlier, there "would have been a different result." Martin wasn't retained until after Vick was already indicted on federal dog fighting conspiracy charges. He implied that the defense team should have worked for state charges to be brought instead of the federal ones.

Martin also said he was largely satisfied with the way the Bill Campbell case turned out.

"When your client is facing 15 to 20 years on fraud and racketeering charges, and you come out with $40,000 or $50,000 of tax liability and [30 months], I absolutely consider that a win," Martin replied to a question.

But, he added, "The mayor wasn't satisfied."

Monday, 25 February 2008