11 advocacy groups want full 5 years for VICK

[Kentucky Jet]

By DAVE FORSTER, The Virginian-Pilot

© September 12, 2007 | Last updated 10:11 PM Sep. 12

Eleven dog advocacy groups have asked a federal judge to sentence Michael Vick to nearly five years in prison and to seize the property he used for dogfighting so that it can be turned into a shelter for abused dogs.

The groups, which include animal rescue organizations and the National American Pit Bull Terrier Association, also wants the NFL star to pay more than $10 million to rehabilitate the pit bulls he and his three co-defendants once bred for fighting in Surry County.

The organizations are attempting to sway U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson when he sentences Vick on Dec. 10. The judge on Monday signed an order that allowed the group to file its motion, but he won’t allow them to speak or actively participate at the sentencing.

An attorney for Vick had no comment.

Vick, a Newport News native who played for the Atlanta Falcons, has pleaded guilty to a dogfighting conspiracy charge that is punishable by up to five years in prison. He is serving an indefinite suspension from the NFL while he awaits his sentence.

The 31-page argument filed by the animal groups discusses the harm Vick’s dog fighting ring has had on the animals and how the publicity from his case has damaged the reputation of pit bull owners in general.

“Hopefully it has more impact on saving the dogs than anything else,” said Paul McCourt Curley, a Richmond lawyer who is one of two attorneys working pro bono for the group.

The motion also asks Hudson to have the dogs that were seized from Vick’s property evaluated and, if possible, rehabilitated. It offers the name of a dog trainer and said his rehabilitation work “can take as little as six months but as long as two years.”

In April, authorities seized about 54 pit bulls from 1915 Moonlight Road , the Surry property that Vick bought in 2001 to host a dogfighting venture known as “Bad Newz Kennels,” according to a statement Vick signed with his guilty plea. The dogs have been kept in local shelters pending an evaluation to determine whether they should be euthanized.

The dog advocates asked Hudson to send Vick to prison for four years and nine months. In August, Vick accepted a plea deal from prosecutors that calls for a recommended sentencing range of between 12 months and 18 months.

Flora Edwards, a New York attorney who is also helping the dog advocates, said the organizations behind the motion coordinated largely through the Internet. Their push for action grew after many of the members felt Vick wasn’t genuinely contrite in his public apology after his guilty plea, Edwards said.

The group filed its motion as a “friend of the court,” meaning it has an interest in the case but is not a party to it.

The motion said every pit bull kept as a household companion becomes a victim of the “media blitz” that follows dogfighting cases. “Every responsible Pit Bull owner is eyed with suspicion, every responsible breeder is suspected of breeding 'fighting dogs,’” the motion said.

The dog advocates estimated that the cost of rehabilitating the pit bulls – paid for by Vick – could surpass $10 million. In addition, the group asked that Vick be fined $250,000 – the maximum allowed for his charge – to support a public education campaign against dog fighting.

The group also asked Hudson to seize Vick’s Surry property and force him to pay $500,000 to transform it into a no-kill shelter for abused and neglected dogs. The public court record does not show any motion by federal prosecutors to seize the property.

In May, a real estate agent who was contacted by a Vick associate said someone had agreed to buy the property, but no deed transfer has been recorded with the county, and the name of the buyer has not been disclosed.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563,

dave.forster@pilotonline.com

[Sperm Edwards]

$10M for rehabbing 4-5 dozen pit bulls? $200,000 per dog for doggie rehab?

It is insane people like these 'dog advocacy groups' (whatever that means) that are going to increase sympathy for Vick, with unique & off-the-deep-end demands in the name of justice, simply because he's got money that others convicted of the same do not have.

Shut your mouths & let an unsympathetic judge nail this scumbag to the wall. No need to make the judge feel icky about appeasing icky PETA-like people with a tough sentence.