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MONTH: September 2007

Michael Vick case blows whistle on dogfighting

RICHMOND, Virginia--Pleading guilty on August 24, 2007 to felony conspiracy, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick will face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he appears before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson for sentencing on December 10.

By then the 50 surviving pit bull terriers who were seized in April 2007 from the dogfighting kennel that Vick confessed to financing for seven years may have already received the death penalty.

Vick agreed to plead guilty after co-defendants Quanis L. Phillips, 28, Purnell Peace, 35, and Tony Taylor, 34, pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge. Each had agreed to testify against Vick if his case went to trial.

Vick admitted in a signed statement that he was present twice when his co-defendants killed losing dogs after test fights at the Surry County property where his kennels and a fighting arena were maintained. The statement said the dogs "were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning."

Following Vick's guilty plea, National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick for "cruel and reprehensible" conduct and "significant involvement in illegal gambling," an offense often punished in professional sports by lifetime expulsion.

Seeking to save his career, Vick apologized at a press conference to Goodell, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, his teammates, and "all the young kids out there for my immature acts."

"Dogfighting is a terrible thing, and I did reject it," Vick said.

"Acceptance of responsibility is one of the factors Judge Hudson will consider in handing down Vick's sentence," pointed out Dave Forster of the Virginian-Pilot. For a first offense, "The federal sentencing guideline range is projected at a year to 18 months, but Hudson can impose up to maximum."

Technically Vick is still a member of the Atlanta Falcons, because of financial issues involved in unconditionally releasing him. "The team intends to pursue the $22 million in bonus money that he already received in a $130 million contract signed in 2004," wrote Forster.

"We cannot tell you today that Michael is cut from the team," Blank told news media. "Cutting him today may feel better emotionally for us and many of our fans. But it's not in the long-term best interests of our franchise."

Sixty-six dogs in all were seized from Vick's kennels, including 52 pit bulls, 13 beagles and mixed breeds, and one dog who was returned to a person who was not charged in the case. Impounded dogs who have been bred and trained to fight are usually killed as soon as their custody is forfeited to the impounding agency, since ex-fighting dogs are believed to present an unacceptably high risk toward shelter staff, other animals, and prospective adoptors and their families.

Because of an outpouring of public concern for the Vick dogs, however, the court authorized American SPCA science advisor Stephen Zawistowski to lead a team of certified applied animal behaviorists in formally evaluating their behavior.

The ASPCA invited the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls to help identify dogs who might be successfully fostered and eventually adopted.

A coalition of eleven organizations headed by the National American Pit Bull Terrier Association filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking that Vick be ordered to pay more than $10 million to rehabilitate the dogs--a request going well beyond the scope of the sentencing guidelines.

Apart from whatever risk the Vick dogs might pose themselves to people and animals, they might become attractive to thieves who in recent years have made pit bulls the breed of dog most often stolen. Pit bulls of significant notoriety and/or fighting pedigree are especially coveted, as the humane community was reminded when the Humane Society of the U.S. on August 30, 2007 posted a reward of $5,000 "for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for removing dogs from an alleged dogfighting kennel in Malad City, Idaho" on August 29.
The dogs were impounded on August 28. Alleged kennel operators Andrew and Tiffany Willard were charged with dogfighting and felony drug offenses.

"Police had asked the Pocatello Animal Shelter and Idaho Humane Society to help impound and care for the pit bulls, but needed to keep the dogs at the property overnight," the HSUS reward announcement explained. "A deputy ordered to guard the dogs was called from the scene to respond to another call, and when another deputy arrived to take over guard, all 30 dogs were gone."

Some of the Vick dogs are rumored to be of the same lineage as 50 pit bulls seized in April 2004 from David Tant, formerly of Charleston County, South Carolina. Tant was sentenced in December 2004 to serve 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to 41 counts of dogfighting and assault and battery. He was arrested after a surveyor stumbled into a trip-wire on his property set to deter possible dog thieves, and was wounded by a shotgun blast.

Task force

The Tant case gave impetus to the anti-dogfighting efforts of the South Carolina animal cruelty task force, formed in 2004.

Former South Carolina assistant attorney general William Frick told Alan Judd of the Atlanta Journal Constitution that a confidential informant in late 2003 or early 2004 told a task force investigator that Vick had a "dog yard" in South Carolina. The task force found no supporting evidence, but Vick in pleading guilty to the Virginia charges acknowledged entering a pit bull named Big Boy in a 2003 fight in South Carolina.

Both the Humane Society of the U.S. and PETA claimed to have received reports since 2004 that Vick was involved in dogfighting in Virginia, but the tips were "not specific enough that we or anyone else could do anything else with it," said PETA assistant program director Dan Shannon.

"Three years ago, South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster was laughed at when he tried to place dogfighting on the national agenda," recalled Charleston Post & Courier reporter Jessica Johnson. Since the Vick case broke, however, McMaster and the South Carolina animal cruelty task force have emerged as national exemplars of how to respond to dogfighting. The South Carolina task force investigations have brought 42 dogfighting arrests in less than three years, resulting in 17 guilty pleas and one jury conviction, with many of the cases still pending.

Former HSUS North Carolina state director Robert Reder, who retired on September 7, 2007, told Raleigh News & Observer staff writer Jim Nesbitt that North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper should form a similar task force, which like the South Carolina task force would include a criminal investigator and a prosecutor focused specifically on animal fighting.

North Carolina already has an ad hoc task force on animal fighting, headed by Chatham County animal control chief John Sauls. "We need structure, we need some staff, we need a home," Sauls told Nesbitt.

Currently, Nesbitt pointed out, "North Carolina law restricts the ability of Cooper's special prosecutors and the State Bureau of Investigation to jump into local jurisdictions. Except where the legislature grants them the power to do so, the SBI can't initiate an investigation, and special prosecutors can't take over a case unless invited in by a sheriff or district attorney."

The North Carolina legislation keeping state-level law enforcement out of local jurisdictions appears to have originated decades ago as protection for the Ku Klux Klan, which had heavily infiltrated county sheriff's departments and reputedly raised funds through dogfighting and cockfighting.

"Cooper did not respond to interview requests. A spokeswoman did not say whether he favors a dogfighting task force similar to the one in South Carolina," Nesbitt wrote.

N.C. connections

"The Vick indictment is peppered with North Carolina references," Nesbitt noted. "Three of the four confidential witnesses reside in North Carolina. A court filing entered by Purnell Peace, one of the three Vick co-defendants who pleaded guilty, outlined a 2003 trip the four made to the state to fight a pit bull named Jane against a dog owned by Lockjaw Kennels of North Carolina. A web search showed on-line sites for two Lockjaw Kennel pit bull breeders in North Carolina--one in LaGrange, the other in Fayetteville.

"The owners of the LaGrange kennel said they weren't involved in the fight against Vick's dog and denounce dogfighting on their Web site. The web site for the Fayetteville kennel was recently taken down but could be traced to Walter Little, whose name was listed as the site's administrator.

"Court records show that Little, 49, was charged with dogfighting in Cumberland County in 2000, but that felony count was disposed of with a deferred prosecution," Nesbitt added. "Little said he was arrested as a spectator at a dogfight that ended before he arrived. He denies owning the Lockjaw Kennel in Fayetteville and said he was not involved in the match against Vick's dog."

Raids on alleged dogfights in 2005 and 2006 in Madison County, Illinois, also had North Carolina connections, pointed out Brian Brueggemann of the Belleville News-Democrat. Arrested in both raids were Basil Sitzes, 34, who owned the property, and Jason Bland, 33, of Brighton, Illinois. Also arrested in the second raid was Kimberly Columb, 43, of Alton, Illinois, whom Brueggeman identified as a former housemate of cancer researcher Alane Koki.

Koki, whose last known address was in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was on February 6, 2007 appointed to an Orange County citizens' committee formed by the county commissions to study an anti-chaining ordinance proposed by Dietrich von Haugwitz, 79, who died on June 26, 2007.

Koki resigned after Ashley B. Roberts of the Orange County Independent Weekly exposed what Roberts summarized as "her long history of breeding pit bulls...and her association with local kennel owner Tom Garner, a nationally known breeder of pit bulls and a convicted dog fighter whom commissioners declined to appoint to the committee the same night they approved Koki."

Roberts described archived versions of Koki's Thundermaker Bulldogs web site listing three of Garner's dogs as sires and grandsires of her dogs; a conversation between Koki and Wisconsin dogfighting and drug trafficking defendant Robert Lowery, taped by the Dane County sheriff's department; her efforts to obtain possession of nearly 50 pit bulls who were seized from Lowery; and the 2006 discovery of about 50 pit bulls on property Koki owns in Pennsylvania. Licensed to keep up to 26 dogs there, she eventually moved all but 11, Animal Rescue League of Berks County executive director Harry Brown told Roberts.

Madison County Assistant State's Attorney Amy Maher told Brueggemann that she had received a call from an attorney who said Garner owned one of the dogs seized in Illinois and might want the dog back, but had heard nothing further after that conversation.

Legislation

Despite the high visibility of dogfighting in North Carolina, HSUS has identified Idaho, Wyoming, Georgia, Nevada, and Hawaii as having "the weakest dogfighting laws on the books, allowing some aspects of the cruel practice to go completely unpunished, and punishing others with little more than a slap on the wrist," after analyzing all applicable U.S. legislation.

"Idaho and Wyoming are last on the list," explained an HSUS press release, "because they remain the only states in the nation that do not consider dogfighting a felony. Worst-ranked Idaho carries misdemeanor penalties with a minimum $100 fine and a maximum six-month jail sentence.

"It is legal to possess dogs for fighting in Georgia and Nevada," the release continued, "and it is legal to be a spectator at a dogfight in Georgia, Montana, and Hawaii.

"Strong felony penalties for dogfighting, including being a spectator at a fight, are essential to controlling this criminal multi-million dollar industry," emphasized HSUS manager of animal fighting issues John Goodwin. "No one who fights dogs or who is complicit in this horribly cruel activity should be able to escape the law."

HSUS endorsed the Dog Fighting Prohibition Act, H.R. 3219, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), which would increase federal penalties for dogfighting and add penalties for dogfight attendance.

The HSUS anti-dogfighting campaign was bolstered on August 27, 2007 by $200,000 from the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation of Hogansville, Georgia. HSUS used the funding to double the rewards it offers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of animal fighters, and "to produce and air public service announcements on animal fighting throughout the U.S."

Introducing improved state legislation against dogfighting will have to wait in most states until the beginning of the 2008 legislative session.

Humane education

Meanwhile, a coalition of Chicago city officials, clergy, and animal advocates introduced an anti-dogfighting community education program called "Safe, Humane Chicago." Building on work begun by the Anti-Cruelty Society, documented in the 2002 humane education video One Last Fight: Exposing the Shame, "Safe, Humane Chicago "aims to reach children and their parents through church and community groups, emphasizing the link between dogfighting and other violent crime," wrote Chicago Tribune staff reporter Monique Garcia.

"This isn't just about dogs," alderman Walter Burnett told a news conference at the Wayman African Methodist Episcopcal Church. "Violence breeds violence."

Dog Advisory Work Group executive director Cynthia Bathurst told Garcia that approximately 70% of dogfighting and animal abuse offenders in Chicago have also been arrested for committing violent felonies against people.

Actress and comedienne Whoopi Goldberg on September 4, 2007 emphasized the failure of humane education to reach all segments of society in remarks on The View, an ABC television talk show.

Speaking of Vick, Goldberg said, "You know, from his background, this is not an unusual thingS¹It seemed like a light went off in his head when he realized that this was something the entire country really didn't appreciate, didn't likeS¹This is a kid who comes from a culture where this is not questioned."

Goldberg's comments were widely construed as a defense of Vick, but she made clear in follow-up remarks that they had no such intent. "Some of the media had me eating dogs and swinging them by the tail," Goldberg complained to Fox News.

Commented ESPN environmental columnist Gregg Easterbrook, "I can't help feeling there is overkill in the social, media, and legal reactions to Vick, and that the overkill originates in hypocrisy about animals. Thousands of animals are mistreated or killed in the United States every day," Easterbrook pointed out, "without the killers so much as being criticized...Ranchers and farmers kill stock animals or horses who are sick or injured. Greyhound tracks routinely race dogs to exhaustion and injury, then kill the losers. Hunters shoot animals for sport.

"From the perspective of the animal," Easterbrook suggested, "there seems little difference between a hunter shooting a deer and Vick shooting a dog."

"Much more troubling," Easter-brook continued, "is that the overwhelming majority of Americans who eat meat and poultry--I'm enthusiastically among them--are complicit in the systematic cruel treatment of huge numbers of animals. One of Vick's dogs was shot, another electrocuted. Gunshots and electrocution are federally approved methods of livestock slaughter.

"Vick's lawbreaking was relatively minor," opined Easterbrook, "compared to animal mistreatment that happens continuously, within the law, at nearly all levels of the meat production industry, and with which all but vegetarians are complicitS¹We won't lift a finger to change the way animals die for us. But we will demand Michael Vick serve prison time to atone for our sins."

Among Vick's few actual defenders were Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Charles Steele, who told Ernie Suggs of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that SCLC "would find some way to honor and recognize" Vick, for his past contributions to the organization.

Noted Suggs, "Media mogul Russell Simmons and activist and former presidential candidate Al Sharpton both condemned Vick and called for his corporate sponsors to break ties with him. But R.L. White, president of the Atlanta branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urged the public and the media not to rush to judgment against Vick."

Heeding Sharpton, the Upper Deck and Donruss trading card companies removed Vick's card from their 2007 NFL sets, a day after the athletic apparel makers Nike and Reebok suspended promoting items associated with Vick. The trading card removal may have been a boon, however, to collectors who already have 2007 Vick cards. Topps, the largest maker of baseball cards, tried to expunge obscure first baseman Ed Bouchee from their 1958 set, after Bouchee was convicted of a morals offense--and thereby ensured that Bouchee is remembered because the few of his 1958 cards that escaped the purge fetch some of the highest prices paid for any sports card.

Other celebrity cases

Los Angeles Times staff writer Gary Klein noted the contrast between the attention paid to the Vick case and the minor notice given to former NFL running back Todd McNair in the 1990s when he was twice convicted of charges resulting from dogfighting investigations.

McNair, now running backs coach for the University of Southern California, was charged with animal neglect in July 1993, found guilty, fined $500 and put on probation, according to a case summary posted by <www.Pet-Abuse.com>.

"As part of the probation agreement, he was to donate $250 to an animal shelter," the summary states. "The judge issued a warrant for contempt of court after McNair paid the fine but did not make the donation. He was fined $100 for contempt and sentenced to community service, which he fulfilled."

In 1996 McNair was charged with 81 offenses involving 22 pit bull terriers, including 17 adults who were found chained to trees on his property and five puppies. A grand jury did not indict McNair for dog-fighting, however. Convicted in October 1996 of 22 counts of misdemeanor neglect, McNair paid fines and restitution totaling $16,226.50.

McNair was not penalized by his teams or by the NFL. Following the Vick case, however, NFL players will be warned against dogfighting. The NFL already makes annual presentations to players about issues including substance misuse and sexual misconduct. Added this year will be warnings about dogfighting, using materials prepared by the American SPCA.

As the Vick case moved toward a conclusion, another possible celebrity dogfighting case broke in Maricopa County, Arizona. Leigh Munsil of the Arizona Republic reported that sheriff's deputies found three dead pit bull terriers, 12 others in a state of emaciation, guns, cars with non-matching license plates, drug paraphernalia, and a substance suspected of being methamphetamine at the Cave Creek home of rapper DMX, 37, whose given name is Earl Simmons.