Vick Accused of Gambling, Executing Dogs
Friday, August 17, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. - It's up to Michael Vick now. His last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and implicated Vick in bankrolling gambling on dogfights. One of them said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped drown or hang dogs that didn't do well.

With his NFL career in jeopardy and a superseding indictment adding more charges in the works, that left Vick with a hard choice: Cutting his own deal to hold jail time under a year or go to trial and sit through detailed descriptions of the ghastly operation known as "Bad Newz Kennels."

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Vick's attorneys were negotiating with prosecutors as of late afternoon, trying to hammer out a plea deal.

"It seems to be a pretty clear indication there will be some sort of plea entered," Blank said before the Falcons preseason game at Buffalo. "When? I'm not positive."

Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach entered plea agreements and agreed to testify against Vick. A third member of the dogfighting ring, Tony Taylor, struck a similar deal last month.

One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, attended the plea hearings but declined to answer questions about the progress of the negotiations as he left the courthouse.

"Did you conspire with these folks to sponsor a dogfighting venture?" U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson asked Peace.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

As part of his plea agreement, Phillips signed a statement that said Vick joined in executing at least eight dogs that didn't do well in test fights by various methods, including hanging and drowning.

"Phillips agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts of Peace, Phillips, and Vick," the statement said.

Phillips and Peace also backed up Taylor's assertion that Vick was involved in gambling.

"The `Bad Newz Kennels' operation and gambling monies were almost exclusively funded by Vick," according to statements by the two men.

Those allegations alone could trigger a lifetime ban under the NFL's personal conduct policy.

Blank accused Vick of lying to the owner and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when they first questioned the quarterback about the allegations.

"It's just very sad," Blank said. "It's sad that those allegations exist and now they are confirmed by others. It's sad that Michael has put himself into that kind of situation. It's his responsibility for putting himself into that situation."

Goodell has barred Vick from the Falcons' training camp but has withheld further action while the league conducts its own investigation. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had no comment on the latest pleas.

Blank said he was stunned by the charges made against Vick by his co-defendants.

"It's distressing after six years spending time with somebody, you think you know them and then there's another side that is shocking to all of us," the owner said. "Those statements of facts don't match up with what the league was told, even our organization, and certainly not was said to the commissioner. So we'll have to see what comes out in this plea and deal with the facts as soon as we have them."

Peace and Phillips pleaded guilty to the same charge facing Vick: conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture. Sentencing was set for Nov. 30.

The offense is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The men will get credit for accepting responsibility and cooperating with the government but would be penalized for animal brutality.

Peace remains free until sentencing, but Hudson found that Phillips violated the terms of his release by failing a drug test and ordered him jailed.

About 30 animal-rights activists protested quietly outside the courthouse. Afterward, as police officers cleared the scene, protesters continued waving large pictures of a mutilated dog.

"This is one dogfighting ring that's been annihilated," said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States.

The four defendants all initially pleaded not guilty, and Vick issued a statement saying he looked forward to clearing his name.

The case began in April with a search of Vick's property in Surry County, a few miles from Vick's hometown of Newport News. Investigators seized dozens of pit bulls, some of them injured, and equipment typically used in dogfighting operations.

The four men were indicted July 17.

As if he didn't have enough troubles, Vick was cited for not wearing a seat belt when a car he owned was pulled over Thursday by Virginia state troopers.

The officer stopped the car because the tint on the windows was too dark, state police Sgt. D.S. Carr said. The Vick-owned vehicle was being driven by someone else when pulled over in Isle of Wight County.

The driver was cited for the tint and Vick was slapped with a $25 fine for not wearing his seat belt. There are no court costs, and Vick doesn't have to go to court.

"He can prepay it if he wants to," Carr said.



& This guy was still on the payroll, Nike still had his crap on the shelves & many other things that are soo wrong!!

i hate that guy , i love animals dogs , cats , turtles ,

Did you see when they first busted them???

They were taking the dogs that didn't fight well enough & they would hose them down then electracute them in front of the other dogs..
They would pound them to death in front of them..

well i did not read the whole article

but as for executing the dogs

i would have to say

a fighting dog probably should be executed (humanly)

rather than being released to someone not trained well enough

to handle it properly

the dog has been trained to agreesivly attack and kill or mame

i would hate to see that someone was attacked by one of these

MISTREATED animals and live the rest of their life in pain and agony

just a thought

but what do i know

disclamer

do not condone the acts of those that abuse anyone or any animal

you have a good point adj4u but i don't consider electrocution, drowning and being beaten to death as being put down humanely.
it seems odd to me that the part that people seem to find the most despicable about the whole thing is not part of the charges he's facing.

i had the best pit bull for YEARS...yes, he was brutal with other male dogs. had to make absolutely certain that he couldn't get near them...and when he was once let out, i ended up paying over a thousand in court because he chewed up another dog pretty badly.

HOWEVER...said dog was WONDERFUL with kids. he slept in my bed, between me and caitlyn...he curled himself around my infants. he was a big lap-dog. most gentle dog i EVER owned with people...

when georgie was attacking me, my dog FLEW over the couch and flattened him to the floor. nothing else, just sat on him. beasley weighed in at over a hundred pounds...and he just held that little punk down, letting him know that he was NOT allowed to hurt me...

could i have him around other animals? no. did he deserve to die? HELL no!

i am not saying all should be


i am saying they were trained to be vicious

it is obvious that the people the animal is aquinted with will not keep them

putting such an animal in an unfamiliar family would be a very dangerous situation

just to clarify

earlier there was a thread about minnisota (i think it was that state) outlawing certain breeds of dog because of thei reputation --- if you find it you will see i was totally against it

The guys took a deal because they got punked my the government.
A few years ago a guy named Ray Lewis, was implicated in a murder case.
He took the plead to avoid a costly trial that included no jail time and rolled on his friends.
The jury found all 3 friends not guilty, so the only person convicted in that case was Ray Lewis in which he also was sued
for wrongful death by the victim,s family inwhich he settled.

I think Vick will prevail in this case, after all why should anyone believe 3 convicts on their way to prison?

vick did it!

i think that if he is found guilty he should be put into a yard fight when he is put in prison

HE'S CRAZY

why would you ever treat an animal that way if they are bad dogs i.e. bite people and such there are other ways to control them rather tahn make them fight and drown and whatever else he did to them how the hell would he feel if he lost a game or threw an interception at a game and got his ass beat or the team would try to drown him


ANIMALS ARE PEOPLE TOO

What do you mean hardact?
was you there?

Just hearing about what he did on the news made me sick.
What a freak.
I hope he pays for what he did.

I had a wonderful pitbull for years.. I have nothing against any animal.
If you read into what these guys were doing & there is lots of proof on it they should hang them all from their balls hose them down & hook the wires on them..
GGeee if in time there is something that shows any kind of inicents of these b*stards that were on the property of a place like this & did nothing about it.. then sorry about their luck.

google it!! see what sick things went on..

will be interesting to see if other players names get dropped...

already reading stories about Peyton Manning hunting in texas..
at one of those farms where they have all the animals "fenced in"
and you chase them long enuf to be pinned against the fence and then
blow them away....great sport eh?...

bet other names will come out...it will get messy...