Michael Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dogfighting case. Vick has turned himself in three weeks ago to begin serving his sentence and appeared in court in a prison-issued black and white striped jumsuit.
Vick’s co-defendents were sentenced last week, with one receiving 18 months and the other 21 months. At the time, it was thought that Vick would receive a year to 18 months, at best. The judge sentenced Vick to more time because he felt that Vick had not been completely honest:
[U.S. District Judge Henry E.] Hudson refused to give Vick credit for accepting responsibility in the case; he ruled Vick wasn’t fully honest in his confessions to the government. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gill said: “He chose not to come forward and be completely forthright with us.”
[…]
Vick pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture. The crime carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Vick will pay a $5,000 fine and have three years of supervised release following prison.
Given the nature of the charges against Vick, I think he got a reasonable sentence.
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I think he got screwed, but he largely brought it on himself. Leonard Little gets 90 days in a halfway and Michael Vick gets two years. Yeesh.
About the same time Vick was being investigated I remembered reading on CNN.com about a cop that left his partner(I think it was a Belgian Malinois) in the patrol car. He left this dog in the car for like 8 hours, while he had dinner with his wife… and of course the dog died.
I have yet to hear about this cop again and what punishment he got. This sentencing on Vick is absurd and shameful.
What a load of crap! I can’t believe that in this day and age, people still abuse animals and more over, that people think that Vick should get a lenient sentence. It is shameful and ignorant of people to think that his sentence is ‘absurd or shameful’ WAKE UP! He is a role model and all he is teaching is violence. The violence and other criminal activities that go along with dogfighting is monumental! This is all he got ‘caught with’. Who knows what else he did. I think you should rethink what you say and learn a little more about what goes on with these violent, grotesque events. I only hope that with the generations to come, they will be more uderstanding and have a compassionate heart for all living things.
Poor poor little Michael Vick – he is having a ‘hard time adjusting’ to prison life! Does he think he is the only one who has trouble with that? PLEASE!
They used to call it ‘hard time’ for a reason – it’s not supposed to be easy! However, while he sits back in the common room watching tv and chatting with his new room mates – maybe he will reflect on the horror he subjected to ‘man’s best friend’.
And besides – with good behaviour, he’ll be out in about 12 – 18 months. Instead of writing a sob story to the judge maybe he should explain the truth to his children why their daddy’s in jail. Tell them how much he enjoyed watching living creatures tear each other to pieces in front of a cheering jeering crowd and that some people in this world actually KNOW that is WRONG!
Did Michael grow up under a rock in Newport News? In 20+ years did he miss all the tv and news reports on dog fighting be a BAD thing to do???
Mike Vick is being excoriated and crucified for fighting a dog whose sole purpose for existing is for its’ aggressive tendencies…what a leap that somebody would actually use it for its’ intended purpose!!! It certainly is not a pet…and if cities would modernize their zoning/leash laws to disallow these aggressive species, it would make it safer for families/children….but that might offend some moron….apologists for aggressive species apparently have never felt unsafe when a neighbor has about three or four and purposely intimidates others…these airheads have no right to defend the species…certainly, after proper training, one could be retrained (unless they are as stubborn as the bumbling cowboy GW)…but the fact of the matter is, if it looks like a (pit bull) and acts like a (pit bull) it is not a poodle…thanks to our militarized regime which is masquerading as our “modern” democracy…pets have more rights than humans…even as people love to crucify others like ancient Romans….Who exactly would constitute a jury of Michael Vick’s peers???? That is why he is guilty, because he is successful and a minority….how about find some downtrodden minorities (maybe poor families whose children are not covered under any health insurance since Bush vetoed SCHIP TWICE!!!) to start impeachment proceedings against our evangelical theocratic dictator, Bush, who has, in the name of the right-wing Christian crusade, destroyed a whole civilization at the heart of Western philosophy mentioned in the Bible…..just to further their political aims, have strategic bases in the Middle East, and secure access to oil. If this not an affront to God, not to mention the fact that we no longer have separation of church and state or a country run for, by or of the people….then really I guess Geneva Convention, laws, etc. are just suggestions…..
But of course, people are more interested in the meaningless, mind-numbing antics of Vick, Hilton, Lohan, Spears…than the fact you can be disappeared without any trial whatsoever thanks to Patriot Act II (it is easy for the crooks, Cheney, Bush, and Co. to turn spying on your own citizens into law since nobody is really paying attention anyway). Now Rupert, the conservative media mogul, runs the Wall St. Journal as well as Fox, and a multitude of other outlets, so any chance than mainstream media will ever by objective again went out the window….so make sure you just believe whatever you see on TV, since I do not think most people in this country even read any real literature anymore or even think for themselves based on what is happening right now in this (formerly enlightened) country!!!!
Every day, these neocons are on TV praying about the end of days and so forth…since they are creating it….within just the past two days, Bush and Co. just weakened reporting standards for pollution from major industries, and vetoed the energy bill because it would lower current subsidies from coal/oil…these industries are a hundred years ago…I think they should give more subsidies to wind/solar, since, under Bush policies, all humans might be extinct before another hundred years!!!!!that would only be fair!!!
The last two comment are crap, Vick got trap into the typical nazism of this country, this is the reason why I have no faith in our laws or legal system, and I’m white. This shows that there is no real justice in America, a first time criminal, that sells drug or attempted murder get probation, then we make Vick seem like the horror in American!!! What!?!?! There are people selliing drugs, killings, raping, etc… The laws need to protect us better from that not dog fighting, give the guy probation and called it a day geeze!!! We need to have them looking at the real issues, like an insane president or the so call WAR on Drugs.
I agree Michael Vick is crying because he got caught. In his letter he said all he was doing was trying to tell the truth. What crap! He denied it to the end until he was he realized no one believed him. He should have thought about his family when he was there fighting dogs, smoking pot and enjoying himself away from them. As far as these dogs “Whose purpose is to have aggressive tendencies.” That is true they were bred to be aggessive but not for human pleasure of fighting them. (What a dumb comment) They were bred to help humans HUNT wild animals such as hogs for food to survive. Instead people that haven’t the sense of a goose make statements such as that and then try to turn it into a political statement.
ok so a woman shoots her husband with a shotgun, kills him and flees the state with thier kids. she gets time served and was out in maybe less than a year. he fights dogs, and has a hand in killing them, which the US does all the time putting animals, dogs, deer and the like, down for its own purpose and he gets 23 months. ok where is the justice here?
Michael Vick can do more out of jail than in jail. In the south where i’m from dogfighting, chicken fighting is a way of life for some. If it wasn’t for who he is, he wouldn’t be in this much trouble. Almost 1 million in fines, and 2 years in prison.
If this were Joe Blow, a slap on the wrist and that would be the extent of it.
I believe Vick is sincere in his apology. Don’t take a person who can earn that kind of money, that can do alot of good with his money, off the street and away from his kids. As he stated in his letter, he is not some habitual offender. It’s his first run in with the law, his first mistake. Drug dealers aren’t penalized this bad.
Furthermore, if you know Dogs that fight such as Pitt Bulls, you would also know that
these dogs would be of no use to society, if they were no longer fighting. They are downright mean, and would kill a kid for crossing its path or looking at them the wrong way. They were hung, or electrocuted. No worse death than what a human being would experience. It was good enough for humans, it sure enough should be civilized enough and humane enough for these animals.
Give this a BREAK!!! Give this man probation and let this man free.
I just want to say one more thing about this business of lying to the prosecuters, etc,etc, etc.
If you think for one moment that telling the truth to a cop, or a district attorney is your road to freedom, then you have got your head up your ass to far to see the light. You are basically damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Anyone who has ever been caught up in the legal system, knows what i’m talking about. You want to do what is right and tell the truth, you really do, because you think that by confessing it will help. People that isn’t how it works. Tell the truth, go to jail, go directly to jail, makes the cops and the DA’s job super easy. They care about convictions ONLY!!!
I’m sure Michael Vick was scared, just as anyone would be and denied the charges.
Does anyone ever go to court and say … “I’m Guilty your honor” … No…. they don’t they say Not Guilty and they go to court. Any lawyer will tell you never admit guilt.
I think this whole thing is apalling and makes me ashamed of our system.
I’m a little disgusted at all of this, really. For anyone to actually think that gambling over dogfighting deserves mere probation, or minimal time, is just…. disturbing.
Michael Vick was intentionally involved in setting living animals against each other for his own enjoyment, and ending their lives for the same reason – or if not, for the simple ease it would grant him and other dog fighters. I don’t think it matters if you grow up in a place where dog fighting occurs; it shouldn’t be hard to figure out that it’s wrong to have animals fight, or to kill animals. And his issue wasn’t that he didn’t know it was just plain wrong to kill animals…. he just said that he grew up “not knowing the severity of the crime.” He doesn’t care that he killed animals; that he ended lives – not for moral reasons, anyway; he just cares now because he realizes that it’s a serious crime.
It shouldn’t take the presence of a law to make someone realize that killing animals is wrong. Obviously, his moral compass is skewed. Honestly, I’m disgusted that he only received 23 months, and that the other men received even less. They should all be serving greater time. If that seems unfair in comparison to other sentences, for other crimes, then those sentences are absurd, and disturbing – but that doesn’t mean that justice should be ignored for this case, as well. It means that those cases should be examined, and changes should be made to the system to prevent similar occurrences.
If he’s being charged more harshly because of his race, then that’s disturbing, offensive, and unfair. But if it’s because of his dishonesty in the courtroom, then it’s not – and it’s not if it’s for his status as a major league football player, either. His presence in the public’s eye means that his sentence will set the note for the severity of his crime, for most of the people in the nation. If he’s let off the hook, then all the people who run dogfighting, or chickenfighting, or any other kind, will get the message that they can get away with it, too. And even if he donated most of his money to good causes when released, I don’t think that that’s worth the proliferated abuse and murder of conscious beings that will inevitably result from his probation.
Honestly, you shouldn’t get freedom for telling the truth, mfox. Telling the truth doesn’t absolve you of the crime you committed. And you aren’t damned either way – compliance gets you a reduced sentence. Rather than b****ing, though, it’s better just to never make a “first mistake,” as you put it. Or rather, a first crime.
You can’t end a life, even an animal’s, intentionally, and call it a mistake. That’s a crime, legally and morally.
We kill cows for food, we kill rats and mice because they are a rodent and a nuisance.
We kill horses when they break their legs, we kill rabbits, squirrel and deer for game, most of the time just wounding one only to let it go off into the woods and suffer and die. We kill rabbits, mice, and monkeys for research that probably suffer greatly.
The rich big game hunter can stand in the safety of a jeep and drop an elephant, a tiger, or a bear for their hunting pleasure.
All of these are mammals and could be just as much a pet as a dog.
All of this is okay and condoned but somehow, someway a dog is more important.
If you’ve ever seen what a Pitt bull has done to a child personally and for no reason, then you wouldn’t take the side of this animal.
It is his first crime, he deserves leniency, perhaps probation and a fine. He has already been humiliated, and stripped of his dignity, his stature and his job.
He has shown more remorse than most, let him go back to his family and try to pick
his life back up. Until now have you ever seen anyone get this type of punishment for this kind of crime. Yes it is a crime, and perhaps this will shed more light on the situation, but don’t make this one man the freaking Poster Child.
Sorry G.Moore if I offended you, i’m sure you are completely without sin. perhaps your not an animal killer, but search your soul for what sins you may have committed.
Only you know what those are. Don’t judge others so harshly without looking into your own world and examining your own life. Unless your Jesus Christ, I’m sure you can find something.
I am appalled at the “excuses” Michael Vick has given for his behavior including “I didn’t know dogfighting was a crime”. Yet he says he’s an animal lover. If he was an animal lover and not a “beast”, he could never under any circumstances have participated in any activity that brought harm to one of those dogs, much less fund and participate not only in the fighting but the torture and death of these helpless animals. This is not just criminal, it is evil. As far as I am concerned 23 months is a light sentence. If these had been humans he’d have gotten the death penalty or life in prison.
I can’t understand why his co-defendants were given such light sentences. Shame on the D.A. Michael Vick is a highly intelligent MAN, not a little boy or a mentally disturbed person who does not know right from wrong. We’re supposed to feel sorry for this “wuss” because he can’t handle prison. Somehow I cannot find sympathy for a former multimillionaire football player who chose the lowest road possible. His mother saying he couldn’t say “no” to people is so pathetic it is not worth consideration.
The judge saw the truth despite all the testimonials. Every behavior, every action has a consequence either good or bad. He didn’t just make a “mistake”, he HARMED AND KILLED AND FUNDED a blood sport and TORTURED man’s best friend. Pit bulls are trained to be fighters, but they are sweet dogs if not trained that way. It’s an EVIL, EVIL, EVIL sport and anyone who bets on, participates in, supports, or abets this type of activity and the torture of innocent animals should lose everything they have, spend years behind bars and suffer at least as much as the poor animals they treated like garbage.
Those of you who are apologists for this guy……… I will never understand people like you.
Losing everything he had materially, the respect of most people who see the Truth, and the ruination of his football career….. I say that is JUSTICE.
He got caught. He got sentenced. End of story. You know, I hate it when cops, celebrities, politicians, etc… get off with a slap on the wrist. I hope more people of stature stop ‘calling in favors’ and take what is coming to them.
On the converse, Scott – do you think he would have gotten 23 months if he was some kid on the street running a kennel? I suspect not.
I’m *not* defending Vick. I’m just saying that I suspect he got the jail time because he’s *Vick*.