Former National Football League star Michael Vick pleaded guilty to a state dogfighting charge on Tuesday in a deal that will keep him from serving more prison time if he stays on good behavior.
The 28-year-old’s plea deal resulted in a sentence of three years of jail time with all of them suspended as long as he stays out of trouble for the next four years he will spend on probation. Vick was also fined US$2,500.
“I would like to apologize to the court, my family and to the kids that I let down as a role model. I’m very remorseful for my actions,” Vick said.
Vick is serving a 23-month sentence in a Leavenworth, Kansas, prison for a federal conspiracy charge related to the dogfighting ring he financed.
The operation that was based at kennels upon land he owned in rural Sussex County.
State charges were filed against Vick and three other defendants after they pleaded guilty last year to federal charges.
A request by Vick to plea by video link from prison was denied last month.
RETURN TO NFL?
The new deal paves the way for Vick’s possible return to American football. Vick had to resolve all charges before he could be released from federal prison to a halfway house ahead of his scheduled release next July.
Vick would have limited freedom at a halfway house and more opportunity to contact officials of NFL teams in hopes of returning to the league for the next year’s season once training camps open in January.
Former Atlanta Falcons star Vick, who filed for bankruptcy protection in prison, must still have the approval of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before being allowed back into the league.
Another factor would be that Vick’s time away from the game will likely have diminished the fitness, skill and speed that made him a run and pass threat and one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL before everything fell apart.
Vick, the 2001 top pick in the NFL draft, signed a record 10-year deal worth US$130 million in 2004 but claimed he now owes US$4.4 million more than he has despite US$16 million in assets.
PROTESTERS
Animal rights groups protested outside the courthouse and Michael Markarian, an executive vice president of The Humane Society, said he was unhappy with the deal.
“We had hoped the Commonwealth of Virginia would send a stronger message that dogfighting crimes are cruel and unacceptable,” he said. “Nevertheless, Michael Vick is already paying his debt to society with a federal prison sentence and his example has demonstrated to people across the country that dogfighting is a dead-end activity that can jeopardize your freedom and your future.”
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