Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick will stand trial April 2 on two Virginia dogfighting charges that could send him to prison for a decade, a Surry County

Circuit Court judge decided Tuesday.

At the request of Lawrence Woodward, an attorney for the former Atlanta Falcons star, a jury will decide Vick’s fate. The charges — beating or killing dogs or causing dogs to fight other dogs, and engaging in or promoting dogfighting — carry a maximum five-year prison term each.

Vick has pleaded guilty to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.

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Another attorney for Vick on Tuesday would not rule out the possibility of a similar deal with state prosecutors. Previously, Vick’s lawyers have said they will argue that state prosecutors are trying to unconstitutionally punish their client twice for the same crime.

“I can’t tell you we’re fighting [the charges], I can’t tell you we’re taking a plea deal,” Billy Martin, Vick’s lead attorney, told The Associated Press. “We’re going to look at this matter and give him some legal advice, and that has not been decided yet.”

Vick did not attend the Surry County proceedings because he turned himself in to authorities Nov. 19 to begin serving his federal sentence early. He will be sentenced on the federal charge Dec. 10, when he faces up to five years behind bars.

The charges stem from a dogfighting operation that Vick and his co-defendants have admitted running on a 15-acre property the former quarterback owned in Surry County.

Also on Tuesday, Vick agreed to set aside $928,000 to care for the dogs seized from his property this year. The money will be deposited into an escrow account overseen by Martin’s law firm.

Federal prosecutors filed a request last week that Vick be forced to set aside the money because of his “deteriorating financial condition.”

Vick had agreed to pay for the dogs’ care as part of his federal plea bargain, but prosecutors were concerned about the former quarterback’s ability to pay. He is being sued by several creditors

for $5 million and has been ordered to repay $20 million to the Falcons.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com