Vick Indicted

[03EBZ06]

I always root for the bull.

http://img238.*************/img238/6849/bullgore1fullom1.jpg

Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.

 

[bbgun]

Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.

And an infection.

 

[03EBZ06]

I wonder what Vick's legal fees will amount to when this is all said and done. Probably $1M+.

If he assembles a dream team like OJ, then it's going to be several millions, but then with his signing bonus, it shouldn't be an issue for him.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I wonder what Vick's legal fees will amount to when this is all said and done. Probably $1M+.

I think much more...

 

[03EBZ06]

A friend of mine who works at legal department at our company said tonight that the Feds have a ~96% conviction rate, can some one confirm this?

If this is true, it doesn't bode well for Vick.

 

[HardHittin'Witten]

A friend of mine who works at legal department at our company said tonight that the Feds have a ~96% conviction rate, can some one confirm this?

If this is true, it doesn't bode well for Vick.

I heard on the radio that the Feds have a 98% conviction rate, but I have no way of backing it up. I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything.

 

[DLCassidy]

As for the points about electrocuting the dogs, having them fight to the death, at this point they are just allegations and need to be proven.

Are you under the impression dogs wear muzzles when they fight or maybe they determine a winner when one dog pins the other for a count of three?:laugh1:

But calf roping offends you?:laugh1:

 

[eduncan22]

A friend of mine who works at legal department at our company said tonight that the Feds have a ~96% conviction rate, can some one confirm this?

If this is true, it doesn't bode well for Vick.

This is true.

Its at least 96.

Where I work, its 99.99.

Vick is going to jail.

 

[Alexander]

So these dogs were killed because they underperformed? So what does that mean for him and his play on the football field?

:laugh2:

 

[Alexander]

I heard on the radio that the Feds have a 98% conviction rate, but I have no way of backing it up. I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything.

In most instances, their conviction rates are very high.

98% is pretty high, but overall I would not be shocked if it ranged from 85-90 percent.

 

[silverbear]

Lot of evidence there -- his house, tons of evidence of fighting. This may not end well for him -- he may avoid jail time but he's going to get nailed by the league and his agent is probably receiving numerous faxes right now from sponsors who no longer need Vick's services.

The most compelling quotes I've seen this evening have come from John Goodwin, the lead investigator of dog fighting for the Humane Society of the United States...

"Some of the grisly details in these filings shocked even me, and I'm a person who faces this stuff every day," he said. "I was surprised to see that they were killing dogs by hanging them and one dog was killed by slamming it to the ground. Those are extremely violent methods of execution -- they're unnecessary and just sick."

"That indictment is brutal," said John Goodwin, the lead investigator from the Humane Society. "The details in there are amazing. That's much stronger than most of the cases I've seen."

From what I've read of this indictment so far, the details ARE amazing... it's clear that they have a source or sources from inside the operation giving them the inside story... others have commented in this thread about how the government has at least four confidential witnesses, and I'll bet one of them is the undercover operative that members of the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force talked about, the guy who has testified in five other dog fighting cases in the Old Dominion, and helped the state secure convictions in all five...

Naturally, the defense will try to tarnish the credibility of the other witnesses, but they have some problems in that area... first off, although some of them are undoubtedly testifying to save their own backsides, to get lesser sentences or even immunity, there are FOUR of them, and if they're all telling the same story, that will definitely affect any jury... then there's the matter that some of their inside info turned out to be VERY accurate (the killing of those dogs after they tried them out in test matches, and the subsequent discovery of exactly that many canine corpses when the Feds executed that last search warrant)... so, you've got multiple witnesses, all telling pretty close to the same story, and you've got specific aspects of their testimony that has proved to be quite accurate...

Most damning of all, I think, will be if I'm right about one of those confidential witnesses being the undercover operative who has been instrumental in securing other convictions on dogfighting in Virginia... this would be a guy who would NOT be testifying to save his own butt...

I don't think he's gonna wind up avoiding jail time at all... I find myself hoping that the forum lawyers are right, and that there is a RICO case to be made against him... I was profoundly disgusted by this whole mess, but got even more disgusted when I read the part about killing the one dog by slamming him to the ground... that goes beyond cruelty, into the realm of sadism; if they had to kill the dog, a .22 behind the ear would have gotten the job done, without being so sadistic...

I say fry the bastidge...

 

[silverbear]

It'll take more than an indictment for him to miss any games this year. This is his first strike, correct? Or did he have previous scrapes with the law? He doesn't appear to be a serial offender like his little brother.

I dunno, bb, Jason Cole from Yahoo seems to think that Goodell will suspend Vick in the very near future:

Vick is expected to be suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after news broke Tuesday evening that Vick was indicted by federal authorities in connection with dog fighting in Virginia. The indictment followed a three-month investigation.

While Goodell was not reached for comment, two sources said the commissioner has been monitoring the Vick case since April, when investigators initially found evidence of dog fighting at a home Vick owned in Smithfield.


"Where (Vick) is in the most trouble is that he lied to the commissioner," a league source said. "He told (Goodell) in April that he didn't know anything about this. The commissioner gave (Vick) every chance to come clean, be straight about what was going on. Instead, he just kept denying it."

Other NFL teams are eager to see how Goodell will react to the news on Vick. A Titans source said in May that Tennessee management was watchful of how Vick might be treated in relation to how Jones was punished.

"There's a lot riding on this one," a league source said. "Perception is really important right now for the entire league and (Goodell) has set the bar pretty high. I think the one thing going for (Goodell) if he's going to suspend Vick is that he gave Vick a chance to tell the truth."

Now, I'm not holding Cole up as the definitive source on all things NFL-related, but his arguments make some sense to me... with the way Goodell has been doling out suspensions this offseason, he pretty much HAS to act aggressively...

 

[silverbear]

They have Harrington. Culpepper is a BUST. Always has been, always will be.

Dolphins couldn't even get a trade for the guy. Cut him and ate the millions.

The other portions of your post is spot on.

The biggest reason they couldn't get a trade for Culpepper is he had a no-trade clause in his contract, and made it known that he wouldn't accept any trade... he forced his release, because he wanted to be able to pick and choose which team he went to...

Beyond that, I think it's pretty ridiculous to label Culpepper a "BUST", when he has a career quarterback rating of 90.8, a 64.2 per cent completion rate, a 7.7 yards per attempt averaged, and 137 career TDs to 89 career ints...

All of these are very good numbers, actually... for sure, they're better numbers than Joey Harrington ever put up... we're talking a career 68.2 quarterback rating, a 55.2 completion percentage, a 5.4 yards per attempt average, and 72 TDs to 77 ints...

Without being mad at you, or feeling an urge to insult you, anybody who doesn't recognize that Culpepper would be a large upgrade over Joey Harrington really doesn't know much about football in general, or either player in particular...

Indeed, I'd personally be shickled titless if the Boys were to go out and sign Culpepper (though he probably wouldn't be interested in being a backup to Tony Romo)... I'd sure feel a lot better if he was waiting in the wings, rather than Brad Johnson...

 

[silverbear]

So will the activist groups. Expect picket lines at Falcons games until the Commissioner reacts. They may not be effective, but they will happen.

You just KNOW that if Vick is not suspended come opening day, every time he steps on the field, the public address system will be playing "Who Let the Dogs Out"...

Even in Hotlanta... LOL...

 

[silverbear]

And the apologist's that went with it?

Hey, the Draconian Vigilante Squad stands vindicated... we're not the ones hiding from this latest revelation, LOL...

 

[Royal Laegotti]

I always root for the bull.

http://img238.*************/img238/6849/bullgore1fullom1.jpg

uke: :ralph: uke: :ralph:

 

[silverbear]

In all fairness, it is just an indictment, in no way is it a finding of guilt.

This is true...

OTOH, the Feds took their time preparing this case, and they have to be aware of the added difficulty involved in securing a conviction when the defendant is a "celebrity"... you have to figure they wouldn't be eager to make fools of themselves by letting such a celebrity beat them in court, which leads one to conclude that they feel they have a REAL strong case...

Reading the indictment reinforces that opinion, it is quite specific...

 

[silverbear]

I find the defecadent Michael Vick guilty as indicted!

"Defecadent"... nice turn of phrase there...

 

[silverbear]

This calls for an emergency meeting of the DVS.

Where's our fearless Lord Muckity when you need him?

Right now, he's laughin' his ample backside off, and wondering where all the Vick defenders are...

 

[silverbear]

Goodie has free reign on this one - it isn't like someone got hit with a DUI -- we can be reasonably sure that there is no comparison case here nor will there likely ever be one.

And lay off the Sharpton biz - he's got nothing to do with this - you are just trying to start something.

Well, it ain't like Reverend Al doesn't have a history of standing up for black people who ultimately turn out to not be innocent, presumably for no better reason than they are black... Tawana Brawley ring a bell with you??

Bluntly, he's a media *****, always looking for a chance to rail away in front of the cameras... he's not always wrong, mind you, but he has shown a tendency in the past to jump into these things without bothering to find out the truth of the situation for himself...

Sharpton is a demagogue, in the worst sense of the word...