HW # 4, Due Tuesday, October 14th!

For Tuesday, Read "Vick Pleads Guilty in Dog Fighting Case". In 5-7 sentences, explain what Vick did and what is happening to him now. Also, talk about how the commissioner of the NFL feels about Vick.

For those who did not write the "mini-column", be sure to write it for Tuesday. The assignment is below in homework assignment #3.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue


Vick Pleads Guilty in Dog-Fighting Case
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 27 — Michael Vick formally accepted a plea agreement from the federal government today at the United States District Court here, pleading guilty to a felony charge stemming from a dog fighting ring run from a property he owned.

On Friday the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was suspended indefinitely without pay by the National Football League hours after the plea agreement was filed here.

Within the statement of facts, which accompanied the agreement, Vick admitted to funding the dog fighting operation and the gambling associated with it and to being complicit in the killing of at least six dogs that underperformed.

“I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself, to say the least,” Vick said at a press conference at the Omni hotel here after the hearing. He added: “Dog fighting is a terrible thing. I reject it.”

Vick, 27, faces up to five years in prison on the charges of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal-fighting venture. The United States attorney’s office will recommend a lighter sentence, between a year to 18 months, as long as Vick continues to cooperate with authorities. Although the government can argue for a lighter sentence, United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson, who is overseeing the case, is not bound by its recommendation, and Vick cannot appeal his decision.

“We hope Judge Hudson will see the real Mike Vick,” Vick’s lawyer, Billy Martin, said to reporters after the hearing. “What you have seen is an aberration and we think Judge Hudson will get it right when he sentences him.”

Sentencing, Hudson said today, is scheduled for Dec. 10.

In the plea agreement Vick said he would cooperate with the federal government’s investigations regarding any criminal activity. This includes testifying in front of grand juries, on behalf of the government at trial and even taking a lie detector test.

In the statement of facts, Vick said that he agreed to the killing of “approximately 6 to 8 dogs that did not perform well in ‘testing’ sessions,” adding that “all the dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning.”

Vick said that he did not place side bets on any of the fights and did not share in the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels, but that he funded the betting and was present when his co-defendants placed bets.

“I will redeem myself,” Vick said at the news conference. “I have to.”

In a written statement, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Chuck Rosenberg, said that although a first time offender would have avoided jail time under the sentencing guidelines, the government saw the behavior of Vick and two of his co-defendants as “heinous, cruel, and inhumane,” and thought they should face more time behind bars.

The government required two of Vick’s co-defendants, Purnell A. Peace, and Quanis L. Phillips, 28, who both pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, and Vick to accept an additional provision in the plea agreement that they “indeed understated the severity of their conduct and that a sentence substantially above what would otherwise be called for by the guidelines would be appropriate.”

“The parties thus agreed to recommend to the judge that the advisory sentencing range for these three defendants (assuming no prior criminal record) should be 12 to 18 months in prison, rather than zero to six months in prison,” Rosenberg said. Tony Taylor, the other co-defendant, was the first to accept a plea agreement from the government and is not likely to face any prison time.

N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell told Vick in a letter on Friday that his actions were “cruel and reprehensible” and that Vick’s involvement in gambling was a violation of the N.F.L.’s personal conduct policy.

Vick said today: “I want to personally apologize to Commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, Coach Bobby Petrino, and my Atlanta Falcons teammates, for I was not honest and forthright in our discussions.”

He also said: “What I did was very immature. That means I need to grow up.”
Goodell said that he would review the suspension after legal proceedings were concluded. He said that in reviewing the suspension, he would take into consideration the possibility of new charges; Vick’s conduct; his sentence, and how much Vick cooperated with the league and the law enforcement officials.

Goodell could decide to reinstate Vick after his incarceration ends, or the suspension could continue indefinitely. But if Vick serves a year in prison he would not be eligible to play again until 2009, at the earliest. Vick would be 29 years old.

Even if he is reinstated and is available for the 2009 season, he would not have played for two seasons, and would have surely lost some of his speed — his best weapon — likely making him unattractive to all but the most risk-taking teams.

The suspension frees the Atlanta Falcons to pursue, before an arbitrator, a portion of Vick’s signing bonus because he is now in default of his contract. The Falcons could also decide to release the player who, only four months ago, was the face of the franchise.

It has become clear since then that Vick lied to Goodell and to Falcons owner Arthur Blank when they asked him in April about his involvement in dog fighting. Blank has indicated that he feels personally betrayed by a player he had once felt close to and on whom he had lavished a 10-year, $130 million contract in 2004.