A prosecutor in southeastern Virginia who is investigating dogfighting allegations against Michael Vick said yesterday he plans to seek additional state charges against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback and his three co-defendants.
Michael Vick can also not make any future plans of playing in the Canadian Football League.
Vick’s speed and sprint-out style look ideal for the CFL, but the Atlanta Falcons quarterback at the centre of dogfighting charges will not be allowed to play in Canada if, as expected, he is suspended by the NFL.
A rule approved by the CFL in the off-season bars clubs from signing players who are under suspension in the NFL. The rule was adopted in response to the Toronto Argonauts’ signing last season of running back Ricky Williams, who was serving a one-year suspension for drug use.
The NFL has never needed something to go away like Michael Vick and those dead dogs and next Monday, a judge will oblige.
Vick has agreed to plead guilty to charges related to his involvement in the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation in his native Virginia. U.S. federal prosecutors have reportedly recommended a sentence of between one year and 18 months in prison.
Toronto Argonauts coach Mike (Pinball) Clemons said that was likely because “I don’t think anyone could have guessed he’d ever come to the CFL.
“That would be why no one has his rights, but I don’t know.”
Clemons also opted to steer clear of comment on Vick.
“I think I have to stay out of his house now and let him put his house in order,” Clemons added. “There are things bigger than football for Michael Vick right now and he needs to attend to that.”
A prosecutor in southeastern Virginia who is investigating dogfighting allegations against Michael Vick said yesterday he plans to seek additional state charges against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback and his three co-defendants, but is first awaiting the results of Vick’s scheduled guilty plea Monday in federal court.
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The investigation we undertook was kind of interrupted by the federal government coming in with its own charges,” he said. “It has nothing to do with state charges. There have been no negotiations, none at all.”
For some reason, in cases like these, comparables are always made to worst-case scenarios. There are already people out there accusing the media of racism; that there is a war in Iraq we should be concerning ourselves with rather than persecuting another poor black man.