Apparently the judge is a dog-lover and has pictures of dogs on his desk! Not only that, he was the first judge to hand out a sentence for dogfighting like 20 years ago or something.

Tough break.

It appears that he is in the company of anywhere from 35 million American households to 68 million.

https://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=177303

Dog-owner doesn't necessarily mean dog-lover. As this saga sadly shows.

You are correct. Look at all of the people in a relationship that are forced to own a dog because their significant other wants one.

I actually met a lady today who used to frequent the greyhound races where she grew up in Scotland.

It is still legal in the U.S. in a bunch of states.



Open Directory - Sports: Greyhound Racing: Tracks: United States

I definitely think Vick has been made an example of. But does the punishment fit the crime? Yes. Does Vick have anyone to blame but himself? No. Was it unbelievably stupid for someone on top of the world to engage in such reckless behavior? Yes. Does he deserve to be allowed back into the NFL? I don't know. But everyone should have a chance to redeem themselves.

The feds made an example of Martha Stewart, too.

It seems to me that when he is set free from his incarceration that if he desires to make a comeback he should be at least given the chance to see if he can still perform at the NFL level.

Whenever a famous person is convicted of anything besides murder, people say that they are being made an example of.

Vick accepted a plea bargain and avoided a potential 5-year sentence.

He could have just taken it to jury trial, right? Good luck with that if there are any dog owners there.

It is a decent argument, I think. When famous people are convicted, the nature of the crime gains a lot of notoriety as well. I think the feds think that it will be a deterrent in the future. "If we got Vick, we can get you, too."

I watched an ESPN town-hall meeting on this and there was the usual black/white divide. Blacks thought Vick was being made an example while whites thought that the crime was pretty heinous. And then people start talking about race all over again. Nothing seems to be as polarizing as when a black athlete gets convicted of something. I just think it's unfortunate.

ESPN - Vick case has us confounded by the race issue again - NFL

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"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore. - George Carlin

The judge should never allow that to factor into his decision. If it has. That's a miscarriage of justice whether Vick pled guilty or not.

Judges should never hand down sentences based on their personal feeling or perceived connection with the issue.

So by that logic judge's shouldn't be allowed to be married, have a family, siblings or even have parents because then their personal feeling toward spouses, siblings, children and parents will be biased in murder cases involving spouses, siblings, children and parents and heaven forbid that they should have a picture of one of them on their desk.