Because I have access to electronically filed documents throught the U.S. Federal Courts, I was able to pull up the Michael Vick plea agreement documents which were filed minutes ago. Here are some of the highlights:
Plea Agreement- Vick pleads guilty to Count I, Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture.
- Maximum penalty for Count I is 5 years in prison, plus fines and other terms.
- Parties agree that victimization and killing of pitbulls is an aggrevating circumstance that warrants an upward departure from sentencing guidelines (thus raising the applicable scale).
- However, government agrees to recommend sentence of low end of applicable scale.
- Court need not adopt recommendation.
Summary of Facts Supporting Plea Agreement- Vick acknowledges that he funded the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. The venture was started in 2001.
- Vick denies that he personally killed any dogs, but admits that he was aware that his co-conspirators killed a number of dogs that did not perform well in testing.
- Vick admits that, on one occasion, he agreed that 6-8 dogs would be put to death because they performed poorly and that they were killed (by various methods, including hanging and drowning) as a result of the collective efforts of Vick and his co-conspirators (again, not admitting that he physically killed the dogs, but acknowledging his involvement in these acts).
- Acknowledges that there was a "purse" for the winning dogs in various dogfights (acknowledges that gambling was involved).
So, despite the headlines this morning about Vick limiting his admissions, it seems he has only denied (or declined to admit) that any dog was killed by his hands. Certainly, though, he was aware of, consented to, and was involved as a co-conspirator with respect to these acts.