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No plea deal from Vick despite grisly details

QB linked to dog killings, gambling as co-defendants cut deals of their own

Purnell A. Peace
Steve Helber / AP
Purnell A. Peace, a defendant in the Michael Vick federal dogfighting case, leaves Federal court in front of protesters in Richmond, Va., Friday.
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msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 5:26 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2007

RICHMOND, Va. - Michael Vick's last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and implicated Vick in bankrolling gambling on dogfights. One of them said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped drown or hang dogs that didn’t do well.

With his NFL career in jeopardy and a superseding indictment adding more charges in the works, that left Vick with a hard choice: Cutting his own deal to hold jail time under a year or go to trial and sit through detailed descriptions of the ghastly operation known as “Bad Newz Kennels.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Vick’s attorneys were negotiating with prosecutors as of late afternoon, trying to hammer out a plea deal.

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“It seems to be a pretty clear indication there will be some sort of plea entered,” Blank said before the Falcons preseason game at Buffalo. “When? I’m not positive.”

Vick was still mulling his options Saturday and not ruling out the possibility of going to trial in November, ESPN.com reported. Sources also told the Web site that a possible plea deal would not come before Monday. One source said a plea deal would likely come Tuesday.

Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach entered plea agreements and agreed to testify against Vick. A third member of the dogfighting ring, Tony Taylor, struck a similar deal last month.

One of Vick’s attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, attended the plea hearings but declined to answer questions about the progress of the negotiations as he left the courthouse.

“Did you conspire with these folks to sponsor a dogfighting venture?” U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson asked Peace.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

As part of his plea agreement, Phillips signed a statement that said Vick joined in executing at least eight dogs that didn’t do well in test fights by various methods, including hanging and drowning.

“Phillips agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts of Peace, Phillips, and Vick,” the statement said.

(Read Peace's statements on executing of dogs (pdf file); and Phillips').

Phillips and Peace also backed up Taylor’s assertion that Vick was involved in gambling.

“The ‘Bad Newz Kennels’ operation and gambling monies were almost exclusively funded by Vick,” according to statements by the two men.

Those allegations alone could trigger a lifetime ban under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Blank accused Vick of lying to the owner and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when they first questioned the quarterback about the allegations.

Quanis L. Phillips
Steve Helber / AP
Co-defendant Quanis L.Phillips arrives at federal court in front of a group of protesters.

“It’s just very sad,” Blank said. “It’s sad that those allegations exist and now they are confirmed by others. It’s sad that Michael has put himself into that kind of situation. It’s his responsibility for putting himself into that situation.”

Goodell has barred Vick from the Falcons’ training camp but has withheld further action while the league conducts its own investigation. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had no comment on the latest pleas.

Blank said he was stunned by the charges made against Vick by his co-defendants.

“It’s distressing after six years spending time with somebody, you think you know them and then there’s another side that is shocking to all of us,” the owner said. “Those statements of facts don’t match up with what the league was told, even our organization, and certainly not was said to the commissioner. So we’ll have to see what comes out in this plea and deal with the facts as soon as we have them.”

Vick's problems don't end with the federal case. The Atlanta Journal-Consitution newspaper reported that Virginia state officials plan to prosecute the star for an imal cruelty and dogfighting.

"The execution of these animals — and the manner in which they were executed — is startlingly offensive and demanding of prosecution," Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter said.

Peace and Phillips pleaded guilty to the same charge facing Vick: conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture. Sentencing was set for Nov. 30.


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