Redstate Sports

By Darin H Posted in Football — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Two co-defendants in the Michael Vick dogfighting case were sentenced today, and both were at the high end of the guidelines:

Two of fallen NFL star Michael Vick's co-defendants were sentenced Friday to 18 months and 21 months in prison on federal dogfighting conspiracy charges.

Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach could have received up to five years in prison — the same maximum Vick faces when he is sentenced Dec. 10.

Peace, Phillips and Tony Taylor of Hampton pleaded guilty last summer and agreed to testify against Vick, prompting the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback to enter his own plea agreement a few days later. Taylor will be sentenced Dec. 14.

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"You may have thought this was sporting, but it was very callous and cruel," U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson told Phillips, who received the longer sentence.

Sentencing guidelines called for punishments of 12 to 18 months for Peace and 18 to 24 months for Phillips, who has a more extensive criminal record. Both men also were fined $250 and will be placed on three years' probation after their release.

Prosecutors recommended sentences at the low end of the range because of the co-defendants' cooperation. But with Vick attorney Lawrence Woodward watching in the packed courtroom, Hudson said he felt sentences on the high end were appropriate because of the nature of the crime.

I have 2 different thoughts about this.

1. These guys got plea deals, and yet got hit with about as much as the judge could throw at them. That's not good news for Vick.

2. However, I think the judge hit them harder because of their statements about dog fighting being not that big of a deal while Vick came out and publicly accepted blame and responsibility and offered an apology - that might have been the smartest thing Michael Vick has ever done.

Either way, if it's 18-24 months in jail, and then another 18-24 on state charges, Michael Vick has probably played his last down in the NFL.