Below The Beltway

If this is any indication of how he’ll fare on the charges he faces in Virginia state court’s, Michael Vick will be behind bars for quite a long time:

Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison today after prosecutors revealed that he told federal agents that he hung two dogs as part of an illegal dogfighting venture. He had denied for months that he was personally involved in the killings.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson pronounced the 23-month term, which was higher than the 12 to 18 months that prosecutors and defense lawyers had initially recommended. Hudson said he was concerned that Vick made conflicting statements to FBI agents about his role in executing the dogs and also misled probation officers about smoking marijuana against the orders of the court.

While the judge praised Vick’s community service and said he had received numerous letters on the quarterback’s behalf — including from boxer George Foreman and baseball slugger Hank Aaron — Hudson said Vick was “instrumental” in the dogfighting ring based on his property in southeastern Virginia.

“You were a full participant, and you were at least equally culpable with every other man sentenced in this case,” Hudson told Vick.

(…)

Today’s hearing in federal court in Richmond ultimately left unclear both Vick’s precise role in the conspiracy and how involved he was in the execution of dogs. Vick, who has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL, pleaded guilty in August to a dogfighting charge. He has admitted in court papers that he agreed to the killing of six to eight dogs through the “collective efforts” of him and his three co-conspirators, but he did not admit in those papers to actually participating in the killings.

For months, Vick stuck to that story, according to court testimony today, denying in several sessions with FBI agents that he had personally killed dogs, even though several of his co-defendants said otherwise. In October, prosecutors sat Vick down and told him that “we didn’t believe him,” assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gill said in court today.

On Oct. 12, FBI agents administered a polygraph examination, during which Vick initially stuck to his denials but “finally admitted” that he and co-defendant Quanis Phillips had hung two dogs, Gill said. “I carried the dogs over to Phillips, Phillips tied a rope around their necks and I dropped the dogs,” Gill quoted Vick as telling the agents.

So, basically, Vick is a liar in addition to being a scumbag and a dog killer.