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Thanks Michele, that was a very good read. Fergy sounds like a pretty good guy. KGB's comments are spot on. They are animals but why would you purposly treat them badly? If my brother kicked my dog, I'd kick him sqaure in the ass. Then he'd beat the hell out of me most likely. But not back in 1979, I ruled the roost back then......LOL.
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aww, Ras, just because you are on crutches doesn't mean you can't take a mean swing at your bro with a tennis racket!!Originally posted by RastakComment
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Co-defendant says he wasn't offered sentence deal to cooperate
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. -- One of Michael Vick's co-defendants pleaded guilty Monday to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges in a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Tony Taylor, 34, who will be sentenced Dec. 14, said he was not promised any specific sentence in return for his cooperation with the government.
Taylor faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but likely will get less under federal sentencing guidelines. The guideline range will be determined by court officials, and U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson can depart from that range if he finds aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
"You're pleading guilty and taking your chances, right?" Hudson asked Taylor.
He responded, "Yes."
Taylor had the same answer when Hudson asked: "You have agreed to cooperate fully with the United States, is that right?"
Taylor, of Hampton, entered his plea to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities, and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.
Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, and two other co-defendants pleaded not guilty last week to the same charges.
The written plea agreement requires Taylor to "testify truthfully and completely at any grand juries, trials or other proceedings." It says any truthful information provided by Taylor cannot form the basis of a stiffer sentence or additional charges.
Prosecutors already have said a superseding indictment will be issued next month, which could mean more charges against Vick and the remaining co-defendants.
Taylor and his attorney, Stephen A. Hudgins of Newport News, refused to answer reporters' questions as they left the federal courthouse after the 15-minute hearing.
Prosecutors claimed in a July 17 indictment that Taylor found the Surry County property that Vick purchased and used as the site of "Bad Newz Kennels," a dogfighting enterprise.
"The 'Bad Newz Kennels' operation and gambling moneys were almost exclusively funded by Vick," a statement of facts supporting the plea agreement and signed by Taylor says.
The statement also lists several dogfights that Taylor claims Vick attended in Virginia and other states. The principals in the dogfighting ring split any winnings, and Taylor -- who spent most of his time raising and training the pit bulls -- used his share for living expenses, according to the statement.
Taylor also confirmed the indictment's claim that he helped purchase pit bulls and killed at least two dogs that fared poorly in test fights.
According to the 18-page indictment, the dogfighting ring executed underperforming dogs by drowning, hanging and other brutal means. It alleges that the fights offered purses as high as $26,000.
Taylor left the enterprise after a falling out with co-defendant Quanis L. Phillips and others in September 2004, according to the statement of facts.
The grisly details outlined in the indictment have fueled protests and public outrage against Vick. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has banned Vick from the Falcons' training camp while the league investigates.
Vick and Purnell A. Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, and Phillips, 28, of Atlanta, are scheduled for trial Nov. 26. They remain free without bond.Originally posted by 3irty1Comment
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Na na na na
hey hey hey
you're a felonOriginally posted by 3irty1Comment
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It's a good move on the Feds side to not offer a specific deal to Taylor which would be relentlessly criticized by the defense to undermine his credibility - "You are cooperating with the government to get a 2-year sentence when you were the one who electrocuted a dog. You're a sadistic dog killer and you are lying now and accusing innocent men just to save your skin."
However, Taylor's putting a lot of trust in the verbal assurances that he received about a plea reduction. He has nothing in writing. Not a very strong position to be in.Comment
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Originally posted by Kiwon
Keep in mind, he's most likely already between a rock and a hard place. Cooperating SHOULD get him a reduced sentence...certainly better than Vick. I agree on the Goverment's tack here, it makes it more difficult on barrister Billy Martin's credibility defense. Taylor was there to set the thing up. If Vick wasn;t completely and utterly screwed before he is now.
Only if a total moron gets on the jury does he have any hope.Comment
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Unfortunately, these days the morons could be anywhere....in the jury box or sitting behind the judge's bench. It's impossible to predict what the outcome of any trial will be.Originally posted by RastakComment
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Originally posted by Kiwon
I agree. In Saint Paul Minnesota a few years ago there was a trial for the guy named Robert Guavara who was friends with this family. A 8 year old or so girl in the family leaves for the park as he leaves in his van. Girl disapears, they find her bloody clothes in his storage rental. His dad testifies he spent the next day cleaning his van all afternoon. He walks.
True story. As he leaves Minnesota he gives the finger to reporters at the airport, claiming he never wants to set foot in the state again. Nice.Comment
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Sad story, Ras. Real justice occurs in the afterlife. Ultimately, no one gets away with anything. I wish people who want to harm children would remember that.Comment
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Originally posted by Kiwon
Yea very....this is the only thing I could find on that case.....
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NAACP Leaders Urge Fairness for Vick
Jul 30 01:01 PM US/Eastern
By ERRIN HAINES
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - NAACP leaders urged public restraint Monday in judging Michael Vick before he has his day in court.
R.L. White, president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback has been vilified by animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media and prematurely punished by his team and corporate sponsors.
"If Mr. Vick is guilty, he should pay for his crime, but to treat him as he is being treated now is also a crime," White said at a news conference. "Be restrained in your premature judgment until the legal process is completed."
Vick has pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation.
On Monday, Tony Taylor, a co-defendant in the case, pleaded guilty in Virginia to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges in a plea agreement with prosecutors. Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach and Quanis Phillips of Atlanta face similar charges and are scheduled for trial Nov. They remain free without bond.
Businesses have been quick to recoil. Nike suspended its lucrative contract with Vick and Reebok stopped sales of his No. 7 jersey. In addition, two trading car companies withdrew Vick items.
White plans to contact Vick to see what assistance the Atlanta NAACP chapter can offer. White predicted that public opinion may worsen in the wake of Taylor's plea deal.
Until then, he said he would keep an open mind and encouraged others to do the same.
Georgia NAACP President Edward Dubose thanked Vick for his community service and the money and excitement he has brought to Georgia as a Falcon. Dubose said Vick is being prosecuted in the court of public opinion before he has had a chance to defend himself.
"We're not condemning bad behavior, but Michael Vick is innocent until proven guilty," Dubose said.
Atlanta chapter member Bernadette Allen attended the news conference and also a rally Sunday to support Vick.
"The man is entitled to due process under the law, as is any citizen," Allen said.Comment
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Originally posted by Kiwon
Q: If the way he's being treated is a crime, why have no charges been filed? Why has no suit been filed?
A: Because it's not a crime.Comment
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Donovan McNabb: I'm a Mike Vick Supporter
Posted Aug 2nd 2007 2:56PM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Eagles, Falcons, Atlanta, Philadelphia
Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb has come forward to say he's still supporting Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who's indefinitely suspended from the NFL and facing a federal indictment.
"I'm a supporter of Vick," McNabb said Tuesday at Lehigh University. "That's because I'm a good friend of his and also we're guys that obviously compete to win the Super Bowl. We push each other. Now, I don't know exactly what happened in that situation, and I think for all of us that have read over the stuff that was over the Internet, the report, you look at it as kind of like, 'Wow, you've got your so-called friends and family members turning their back on you now to make their situation better.' They're throwing you under the bus so that they can clean their name. That's unfortunate. That goes to show, I always have a saying that I've always lived by: If you can't trust family, who can you trust? It's an unfortunate situation, and I just hope everything works out well for him where he can get back out on the field."
Presumably McNabb is referring to Vick's former friend Tony Taylor and cousin Davon Boddie when he suggests that Vick's friends and family members are turning their back on him to clean their names. But his opinion doesn't make much sense. Taylor isn't clearing his own name; he's confessing to a crime and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.
So far, despite the strong case prosecutors seem to have against Vick, the closest any NFL player has come to saying that Vick himself is responsible for the situation he's in is Deion Sanders, who said Vick has a passion for dog fighting. Sanders was subsequently muzzled.
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More evidence why the NFL is probably urging prosecutors to offer plea deals in the hope that this case won't go to trial.
The press will keep stirring this pot until it eventually boils over. The reporters don't care the consequences as long their articles get published or their stories get aired.
The Black/White divide over Vick WILL inevitably manifest itself in NFL locker rooms and could put a damper on the whole season, especially when reporters gin up players into making off the cuff remarks about race. Someone will say something outrageous and the problem will only be compounded.
I'd like to think I'm wrong, but I honestly think that is exactly what will happen.
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Michael Vick dogfighting case opens racial divide
By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer
August 3, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The difference between those sporting Michael Vick jerseys and those urging his swift conviction on dogfighting charges is glaring: Vick's supporters are mostly black; his critics are mostly white.
The racial divide emerged early in the case against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, apparent at rallies filled with cheering -- and overwhelmingly black -- Vick supporters and at anti-Vick protests that are noticeably white.
Vick's opponents say the evidence against him is overwhelming. For many black supporters, that judgment evokes uncomfortable questions about race and guilt in America.
"White folks 'been grindin' on an ax ... and that ax ain't got sharp enough for them," said Earnest Hardy Sr., who called the case a witch hunt targeting a successful black man.
Hardy's Surry County home borders Vick's property, where an April raid turned up evidence of dogfighting. Federal authorities indicted Vick on dogfighting charges, and he faces jail time and fines. He has pleaded not guilty.
In the rural county split 50-50 between whites and blacks, the case quickly took a racial bent. At the county courthouse, angry letters urged that whites "take back their town." Critics accuse the commonwealth's attorney, Gerald Poindexter, of stalling an investigation to protect one of his own.
"The only thing I'm doing is protecting my personal integrity and protecting the integrity of the office," said Poindexter, who is black. "I'm not going to be pushed into bringing charges that won't stand."
Hardy spotted Surry's racial divisions long ago -- in the farmland developers are sweeping up and selling at prices working-class folks can't afford, and in the new neighbors who don't look like him.
Hardy suspects that Vick -- famous, rich and black -- is just the fall guy behind bigger issues.
"A hundred-million-dollar black man?" he huffed. "They can't stand it."
His view is reflected from the Newport News region where Vick was raised to Atlanta, where a rally supporting the former Virginia Tech standout drew several hundred fans, but barely 50 whites, said Gerald Rose, with Atlanta-based New Order National Human Rights Organization.
Rose said the outcry stems from what he said is Vick's premature conviction in the media -- not support for dogfighting. But he said the case also awakens anger over a perceived smear campaign targeting famous black men from Kobe Bryant to Michael Jackson.
He argues black men who stumble draw excessive scrutiny and especially harsh public judgment.
"It's been too many cases involving African-Americans (where) they got through the court of law, they've been found not guilty, but damage has been done," Rose said.
Vick and two co-defendants are scheduled to stand trial Nov. 26. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference plans to recognize Vick at its annual convention, which began Friday in Atlanta.
"We're in support of Michael as a human being," SCLC president Charles Steele said. "Right now, he's feeling discarded, ostracized by people who are rushing to judgment. It's our responsibility to save him."
Tempers flared at Vick's July 26 arraignment in Richmond, where outside the courthouse blacks and whites debated everything from animal rights to slavery.
"It's racial profiling," said Bill Brown, a Richmond store owner who held a sign urging Vick's fair treatment. "We're always trying to brush everything up under the rug when it comes to racial things."
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, leader of the most vocal Vick protests, says the issue isn't racial.
"We're reacting very strongly to this case because Michael Vick is someone who's a hero ... If this were Peyton Manning or Brett Favre, we'd be out there," spokesman Dan Shannon said.
Both NFL quarterbacks are white.
Vick's case is a "crack in the dam" of American racial tension, explained Jeff Menzise, assistant director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in Tennessee.
Whites, he said, may have underlying anger at blacks they feel constantly play the race card. Blacks, meanwhile, may feel whites rush to judge black suspects, but are more lenient to white ones, Menzise said. A case like Vick's offers a vent for those frustrations.
"When you dam up a river, any crack in that dam and every drop of water is going to try and get out," he said.
Menzise said blacks may despise dogfighting but support Vick as a figure of black success in a society in which there are relatively few.
At his Richmond clothing store, Brown said he'll continue stocking Vick merchandise, though others have pulled it from shelves. He likened black support for Vick's cause to the support for O.J. Simpson's acquittal.
"Black people didn't care about O.J.," he said. "But we felt like we finally won."Comment
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Kiwon, Feds ain't gonna bow to pressure.
And that last comment is really really sad. I'm not even mad about it....it's really sad that people are this polorized that they can't see the fricken forest from the trees.
How idiotic.Comment
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