Today Michael Vick received his sentence for his much-publicized involvement in his illegal dog fighting “business.”
If I read correctly Vick was handed down a sentence of 23 months, and according to John Clayton, he could possibly get out on good behavior after approximately 19 1/2 months.
What surprised me was that, due to his plea bargain, Vick cannot appeal this sentence, so it looks, if I’m ready everything correctly, like he will actually serve this jail sentence. This is in stark contrast to other celebrities who spend, oh, a day or so in jail for their DUI or other offense.
I’m glad to see that “justice will be served,” at least in a sense. Although it still bothers me that we are making such a huge fuss about this. Not that what Vick did wasn’t terrible and tragic – it was. But these were dogs, not people. What about the athletes, etc. that commit horrible acts against human beings? Where is the outrage there? What Vick did was wrong, and he should definitely be punished. Should he be given another chance as an NFL player? I suppose that will be up to an NFL owner to decide in the year 2009.
I love dogs. I wrote about the passing of my own dog recently. And though we might say they are like people, they are definitely NOT people.
It seems sometimes in our society that we have our priorities out of line.