Michael Vick Likely Facing Charges in Virginia & Getting Sued

In mid-August I told that that Virginia may seek indictments against Michael Vick at a September grand jury empanelment. One of the things that I have been hearing is a great deal of anger over the fact that although Vick has pleaded guilty to federal charges, those federal charges did not in any way deal with the matter of the cruelties against animals, the dog killings he freely admitted to. The state of Virginia now has a chance to put that to rights.

“The execution of these animals and the “manner in which they were executed” is startlingly offensive and demanding of prosecution,” Poindexter said in August.

In Virginia cruelty to animal charges carry a sentence of up to five years which means that his admitted killing of 6-8 dogs could net him up to 40 years in prison! Guess something like that would end all the talk of an NFL comeback pretty quick!

Last week Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter said that he may wait until after federal sentencing but yesterday he said the he will “present a host of bills of indictment” Tuesday to a Surry County grand jury.

Although he didn’t say what indictments he will be pursuing, he did say that his investigation is based on different crimes than the federal investigation.

“Most of the matters that I’m presenting have already been admitted in sworn statements authored by the defendants in the federal proceedings,” Poindexter said.

“The killing of dogs is one of those statutory prohibitions,” Poindexter said. “Dogfighting is a crime, the mistreatment of animals is a crime, so you could take your pick, or take them all.”

Although we won’t know for sure until they are announced, it certainly does sound like Virginia is going after Vick on the animal cruelty charges and this would be a major victory for so many people who have been following this and were upset and angry that he might have actually ‘gotten away’ with what some of us look at the worst part of the case. and it is certainly going to be tough to fight something he’s already admitted to.

And on a side note, a Canadian back is suing Vick for defaulting on a 2.5 million dollar loan that he took out in January. Royal Bank of Canada claims that Vick defaulted on the loan, which still has an outstanding balance of $2,313,694.37, for ‘numerous reasons.’ This lawsuit claims that he failed to promptly provide a semi-annual personal financial statement and disclosure of his liquid assets as required and that he is in default because of an “adverse change” in his employment “which could affect the borrower’s ability to repay the note…” On August 31 they sent Vick a letter demanding full payment by September 10 and to no one’s surprise, they didn’t get it.

Wow, it just keeps getting worse and worse for him, doesn’t it?

For all the background and info on the Michael Vick case, including all the documents, please see Michael Vick and Dogfighting.

Source – AJC, AJC

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