The sad and scarred face of Lucas, a pit bull used in a dogfighting ring financed by
former NFL player Michael Vick. (AP)
Michael Vick, the suspended former Atlanta Falcons football player convicted of financing a brutal dogfighting ring, was released from prison this morning after serving 19 months at a federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Vick will serve out the remainder of this sentence under home confinement at his five-bedroom house in Hampton, Virginia, reports the Associated Press. He is expected to be "released from federal custody on July 20."
The one-time highest paid player in the NFL has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is seeking public forgiveness in a bid to resurrect his football career.
Vick has reached out to the Humane Society of the United States and met with its president Wayne Pacelle on Tuesday before his prison release. Vick reportedly wants to work with the Humane Society on a program educating urban teens about the cruelty of dogfighting in hopes of ending the inhumane practice.
But the public will not soon forget the horrors outlined in the allegations against Vick and three cohorts, which can only be described as barbaric and unspeakably cruel. Vick and his buddies were accused of starting a dogfighting operation called "Bad Newz Kennels" involving up to 60 dogs. They fought the dogs against each other, placed bets and killed dogs that did not perform well by hanging, drowning, shooting, electrocution and repeatedly slamming one dog's body to the ground. (An excellent Sports Illustrated article details how many of Vick's pit bulls were rescued and rehabilitated.)
Will Vick get the second chance he now desperately seeks? The AP reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, "who suspended Vick indefinitely in August 2007... has said Vick will have to persuade him and the public that he is genuinely sorry for his crime, that he has been changed by his experience and that he is committed to leading a different life."
Comments
lets hope he makes things right
Didn't know the extent of the cruelty. I don't think he can change his image at this point.
What? Was he stoned/high or something? "Oh, I'm sorry, I won't do that again", said by Vick. Blah blah blah. He doesn't deserve to play in the NFL, He only deserve to be treated the way he treated his dogs. There's no excuses for what he did. And, there's no forgiveness.........ask the owners of the dogs that were rescued from his compound. If dogs could talk.......hmmmm
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