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United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia
ATN: Assistant U.S. attorneys Michael R. Gill and Brian L. Whisler
600 East Main Street, Suite 1800
Richmond, VA 23219-2447
ph: 804-819-5400; fax: 804-771-2316
Comments: usaovae.webmastervae@usdoj.gov
Questions/information requests: usavae.usattys@usdoj.gov
PLEASE NOTE: The United States Attorney's Office doesn't respond to
inquiries made to this website. To make a request for information, you may
contact our office -- (Richmond) 757-591-4000 -- or you may send a written
inquiry to address above.
SOURCE: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae

Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter
SURRY COUNTY
Post Office Box 358 * Surry, Virginia 23883
ph: 757-294-3118; fax: 757-294-3560
NO EMAIL ADDRESS

TO: The Honorable Michael R. Gill and Brian L. Whisler, Assistant U.S. Attorneys
The Honorable Gerald Poindexter, Virginia Commonwealth Attorney, Surry County

Gentlemen,

As the Michael Vick dogfighting case unfolds, the global public is shocked
to read about negotiations at the federal level that could land the
defendant less than one year prison time.

I respectfully demand penalties commensurate with alleged crimes. Vick,
along with three co-defendants, is charged with conspiracy to travel in
interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor
a dog in an animal fighting enterprise. As you know, these felony offenses
carry a punishment of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

I urge federal and state prosecutors to take a no-lenience stance on
dogfighting, animal mutilation and torture. Please levy maximum penalties
and ensure Vick undergoes psychological counseling. In addition, he should
be barred from possessing or living alongside animals in any context.

Initially, officials uncovered more than 50 pit bulls at Vick's Virginia
home. They also found fight tools such as a "rape stand" for forced
breeding, treadmills, drugs to amplify aggression, and a bloody fight pit.

Now that co-defendants Quanis Phillips, Purnell Peace, and Tony Taylor have
consented to testify against Vick, more sickening details have surfaced.
When dogs lost their "game," the Bad Newz Kennels cohorts drowned,
strangled, hung, shot or electrocuted them. Phillips attested to Vick's
involvement in the execution of at least eight dogs. One dog was slammed
against the ground until dead. Vick was consulted to kill another dog "by
wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal."

More recently, numerous sources informed ESPN's Kelly Naqi that Vick, Peace
and Phillips first noosed dogs in the woods on Vick's property. When three
dogs survived a hanging ordeal, Vick, Peace and Phillips immersed the
animals' heads in five gallon buckets of water until they drowned.

Phillips and Peace also upheld Taylor's claim that Vick participated in
gambling. More illicit activity is certain to emerge. Along with gambling,
animal fight rings are associated with auto theft, drug trafficking, arms
smuggling, money laundering, and acts of human violence.

I ask the U.S. Attorney's Office to forego slap-on-the-wrist penalties.
Please rigorously prosecute Vick under federal conspiracy and dogfighting
laws. I fully support the Virginia Commonwealth Attorney’s investigation and
prosecution of Vick and his co-defendants on felony charges.

These dogs were forced into lives of brutal misery. I thank you in advance
for protecting society from the men who senselessly abused them.

Sincerely,