Dear Michael:
I'm not writing to blast you for your conduct, which you have now admitted. I am writing to ask you that same question Jay Leno asked when Hugh Grant came on his show after being arrested for solicitation of prostitution while dating the beautiful Elizabeth Hurley.
"What were you thinking?"
That's what I really want to know. As criminal defense lawyers we are taught not to judge our clients. I am not judging you, I am merely wondering what brought you to this point.
I assume you spent your childhood dreaming of being a star in the NFL. Many kids do, but few accomplish what you did. Not only did you become a star in the NFL, you became the starting quarterback for a team in a large metropolitan area. You had endorsements, a major contract providing you with more money that you could ever need for you, your family, maybe your friends, and anyone else who you wanted to help. I bet you rarely had to pay for a drink, meal, or many things you went out to do, and I know that you had many fans, including children.
Ever heard of golf, tennis, skiing, hunting (the legal killing of animals), collecting art, reading, do-it-yourself home repair? Those are hobbies. I guess dog fighting and killing dogs is a hobby as well, but again, what were you thinking?
Seriously, did you think no one would find out? Did you think it was no big deal? Michael, people care more about animals than they do people. Not sure about that? Do you ever see huge protests after a story about a murder on the news? But when there's a story about animal abuse, look out. I'm not critical of this notion, it's just the way life is, and you should have realized this when you murdered those dogs.
Dogs Michael! Man's best friend! When people were listening to the stories about your case, they were in bed with their yorkies and poodles, or on the couch with their labrador retrievers and mutts.
This is why you will never play in the NFL again. Hell, I doubt you will ever coach a kids sports team in your life. "Daddy, who is Michael Vick?"
Prison will not be the worst thing for you Michael, nor will never playing in the NFL again. It will be that you will forever be known as a dog killer, by everyone.
I am one who will hope that society gives you the benefit of understanding that you will pay a debt to society and be entitled to move on with your life. But that is a pipe dream in today's world.
It just makes me wonder, what you were thinking.
I Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense attorney in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com
Posts
3 hours ago
August 26, 2007
ReplyDeleteRE: Support and Words of Encouragement for Mr. Michael Vick
Dear BRIAN TANNEBAUM, ET.AL.,
I�m an Afro-American (Black) woman writing in support, comfort, and spiritual uplift for Mr. Michael Vick. When any American becomes Jesus, than you can Judge Mr. Vick; Mr. should not be condemned. Yes, I love animals, respect life, and fellow human beings. No man or woman is perfect or without sin. I do not recall daily media coverage, outrage, protest, marches, disgust, anger, or human activist groups� outrage of the horrendous cannibalism and the notorious Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (Caucasian � serial killer)
So-called moral society, outraged over Michael Vick should recall that Jeffery Dahmer murdered at least 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991. His murders were particularly gruesome, involving acts of forced sodomy, necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism.
According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees, in an attempt to discredit Jesus, brought a woman charged with adultery before him. Then they reminded Jesus that adultery was punishable by stoning under Mosaic law and challenged him to judge the woman so that they might then accuse him of disobeying the law. Jesus thought for a moment and then replied, �He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.� The people crowded around him were so touched by their [own consciences] that they departed. When Jesus found himself alone with the woman, he asked her who her accusers were. She replied, �No man, lord.� Jesus then said, �Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.�
Michael Vick did not violate a Federal Statute. See Title 18, Part I, Chapter 3, � 48
� 48. Depiction of animal cruelty
(a) Creation, Sale, or Possession.� Whoever knowingly creates, sells, or possesses a depiction of animal cruelty with the intention of placing that depiction in interstate or foreign commerce for commercial gain, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
(b) Exception.� Subsection (a) does not apply to any depiction that has serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic value.
(c) Definitions.� In this section�
(1) the term �depiction of animal cruelty� means any visual or auditory depiction, including any photograph, motion-picture film, video recording, electronic image, or sound recording of conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed, if such conduct is illegal under Federal law or the law of the State in which the creation, sale, or possession takes place, regardless of whether the maiming, mutilation, torture, wounding, or killing took place in the State; and
(2) the term �State� means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
Mr. Michael Vick admitted that he didn�t create, sale, or possess. Yes, Mr. Vick is the LICENSE owner of Bad Newz Kennels, As a LICENSE OWNER Michael Vick has a statutory right to operate and own an Animal enterprise. See Title 18, Part I, Chapter 3 � 43.
Mr. Vick is a license owner of an Animal Enterprise which is separate and apart from dog-fighting. Named defendant�s admittedly engaged into the dog-fighting.
The Federal Statute defines �Animal Enterprise� as:
(d) Definitions.� As used in this section�
(1) the term �animal enterprise� means�
(A) a commercial or academic enterprise that uses animals for food or fiber production, agriculture, research, or testing;
(B) a zoo, aquarium, circus, rodeo, or lawful competitive animal event; or
(C) any fair or similar event intended to advance agricultural arts and sciences;
(2) the term �physical disruption� does not include any lawful disruption that results from lawful public, governmental, or animal enterprise employee reaction to the disclosure of information about an animal enterprise;
(3) the term �economic damage� means the replacement costs of lost or damaged property or records, the costs of repeating an interrupted or invalidated experiment, or the loss of profits; and
(4) the term �serious bodily injury� has the meaning given that term in section 1365 of this title.
� 43. Animal enterprise terrorism
(a) Offense.� Whoever�
(1) travels in interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes to be used the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of causing physical disruption to the functioning of an animal enterprise; and
(2) intentionally damages or causes the loss of any property (including animals or records) used by the animal enterprise, or conspires to do so,
shall be punished as provided for in subsection (b).
(b) Penalties.�
(1) Economic damage.� Any person who, in the course of a violation of subsection (a), causes economic damage not exceeding $10,000 to an animal enterprise shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.
(2) Major economic damage.� Any person who, in the course of a violation of subsection (a), causes economic damage exceeding $10,000 to an animal enterprise shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both.
(3) Serious bodily injury.� Any person who, in the course of a violation of subsection (a), causes serious bodily injury to another individual shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
(4) Death.� Any person who, in the course of a violation of subsection (a), causes the death of an individual shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for life or for any term of years.
(c) Restitution.� An order of restitution under section 3663 or 3663A of this title with respect to a violation of this section may also include restitution�
(1) for the reasonable cost of repeating any experimentation that was interrupted or invalidated as a result of the offense;
(2) the loss of food production or farm income reasonably attributable to the offense; and
(3) for any other economic damage resulting from the offense.
Now consider the following headliner by Iain Murray and Ivan Osorio:
PETA: Cruel and Unusual
Murray and Osorio Op-Ed in Human Events
by Iain Murray and Ivan Osorio
January 18, 2006
�The FBI recently declared environmental and animal rights extremism its top domestic terrorism priority. The bureau is currently investigating over 150 cases of arson, bombings, and other violent crimes related to these movements. Law enforcement authorities are rightly concerned about the fanaticism over animal �rights� used to justify violent criminal behavior.
The philosophy of animal �rights� espoused by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is very different from a philosophy of humane treatment of animals. An organized movement for animal welfare dates back to 1824, when William Wilberforce�a leader in the campaigns to abolish slavery in the British empire and to improve conditions in factories�helped establish the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in London. Wilberforce�s revulsion over cruelty to animals was consistent with the Christian principles on which he based his life�s work.
But kindness to animals is a far cry from the extremism of animal �rights� advocates. Where once animal welfare organizations promoted Wilberforce�s understanding of man�s duty toward animals, PETA activists demand a recognition of animal �rights.� The difference between those two concepts is great. A decent concern for animal welfare has mutated into a tangle of ideas that have major social consequences. Industry and agriculture are disrupted, medical and scientific research are delayed, and the lives of those whose work involves animals are threatened by violence as a result of the passion for animal �rights.�
Enter PETA
In 1983, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote these amazing words in a Washington Post article: �Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses.� This disturbing statement well illustrates PETA�s twisted worldview. According to PETA, animal �rights� derive from the moral equivalence between man and animal. Advocates are perfectly serious when they argue that just as we do not experiment on or eat babies, neither should we experiment on or eat animals. Taken to its logical conclusion, their view is that humans should not use animals for any purpose whatsoever.�
Mr. Michael Vick is a license kennel owner; deprived of his rights and property rights under the statute the 14th Constitution.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that:
THE FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
PROVIDES IN PARTAS FOLLOWS:
"Search and Seizures: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to seized. "
THE FIFTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
PROVIDES IN PARTAS FOLLOWS:
"No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor
be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
PROVIDES IN PART AS FOLLOWS:
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "
Mr. Vick should only be charged with negligence management of his license kennel animal enterprise. If Mr. Vick recklessly engaged into or allowed the careless misuse of his property and animals registered under his animal enterprise; then Mr. Vick should only pay the applicable State fines and penalties. Mr. Vick did not violate the statute as defined by its meaning.
The Atlanta Falcons, media, animal activist, extremist, hate groups, hypocrites, and sponsors rush to judgment violated Mr. Michael Vick�s rights under � 43. Animal enterprise terrorism
(a) Offense.� Whoever�
(1) travels in interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes to be used the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of causing physical disruption to the functioning of an animal enterprise; and
(2) intentionally damages or causes the loss of any property (including animals or records) used by the animal enterprise.
Mr. Vick�s rights under the statute was violated by those whom rush to judgment; which undoubtedly force, pressured, and intimated Mr. Vick into a premature plea of guilty of his Constitutional property right to own and operate a license Animal enterprise.
� 48. Depiction of animal cruelty
(a) Creation, Sale, or Possession.� Whoever knowingly creates, sells, or possesses a depiction of animal cruelty with the intention of placing that depiction in interstate or foreign commerce for commercial gain, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
Mr. Vick was licensed. Had property Rights; and legally owned an Animal Enterprise labeled as a �dog-fighting ring� Mr. Vick did not create, sale or possess a �Depiction� as defined by the statute. Therefore, Mr. Vick should immediately withdraw his plea bargain and opt for a Jury Trial.
Mr. Vick entrusted others to legally manage his Animal Enterprise; not violate animals entrusted in others care. Atlanta Falcons owners rush to judgment is a breach of contract. Mr. Vick must be reinstated.
May God continue to Bless Mr. Michael Vick, heal his spirit; and the spirit of all whom have been emotionally or spiritually affected. Atlanta Falcons, please reinstate Mr. Vick status. Thank you.
Sincerely,
/s/
YG-Michaels