To understand the Michael Vick case you have to truly follow exactly what went on in this remarkable modern day atrocity of justice. On April 25th, 2007 police executed a warrant on Davon Boddie for drug charges. When searching the property they found 66 dogs, 55 of which were pitbulls. They went to this residence looking for Davon Boddie because he was the one paying the property taxes. Davon lived at the residence. This was one of the most amazing things about the Mike Vick case, many of Vick’s haters wanted to see him go to jail simply for owning the property where they believed this crime took place. This “new found” assumption of responsibility would put many landlords in jail.
Once the police discovered all these dogs they began working with the local prosecutor Gerald G. Poindexter in an investigation of the matter. Pointdexter decides not to execute another warrant brought forth by investigators as he believes they were overzealous in their prosecution. This is to say the least, initially there were reports from the media that detailed fighting dogs, blood on the carpets, and a “rape stand”. The rape stand is amazing as this was never explained as a common utility used by dog breeders, and it is hardly ever called a rape stand, it is called a breeding stand. Still this was sold to the public as the smoking gun, clearly these guys were up to no good.
On June 7th after tons of pressure from the general public, quite amazing considering how animals in America are abused religiously, factory farming, veal, … the food industry. Still this was different this was the dog, the most beloved animal in America! Well minus the 2 million that get killed every year in shelters, while “dog lovers” go get pure bred four legged companions. In spite of this dozens of federal agents from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Richmond, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Virginia State police executed a search warrant. This was an unprecedented display of cooperation and allocation of resources in the fight against dog-fighting, or should I say Mike Vick.
Over the next several weeks it all came out the Federal authorities alleged that Vick and his crew had been fighting dogs for over five years. The 18 page indictment said the crew hosted dog-fights, sponsored dog-fights, killed dogs, and traveled out of state to fight dogs. The most amazing thing about all of this was that while the government knew this had been going on for over 6 years they had not one picture, not one video, not one audio tape of any of these gentlemen mentioning a dog fight, viewing a dog fight, or participating in a dog fight. Don’t let the facts bother you though folks. I mean it’s not like these are the same guys who locked up Allen Iverson in a true travesty of justice … oh wait they are
As a junior, Iverson quarterbacked Bethel High School’s football team to the state championship, which they won.
Iverson was later involved in a highly publicized incident on Valentine’s Day that almost jeopardized his college career. On February 14, 1993, Iverson and several of his friends became involved in an altercation with a group of white teenagers at a Hampton, Virginia bowling alley named Spare Times. Allen’s crowd was raucous and had to be asked to quiet down several times, and eventually something of a shouting duel began with another group of youths (all white). Then shortly thereafter, a huge fight erupted, pitting the white crowd against the blacks. During the fight, Iverson allegedly struck a woman in the head with a chair. He, along with three of his friends who are also African-American, were the only people arrested. Iverson, who was 17 at the time, was convicted as an adult of the felony charge of “maiming-by-mob”. Iverson and his supporters maintain his innocence, claiming that he had left the alley as soon as the trouble began. “For me to be in a bowling alley where everybody in the whole place know who I am and be crackin’ people upside the head with chairs and think nothin’ gonna happen?” asks Iverson. “That’s crazy! And what kind of a man would I be to hit a girl in the head with a damn chair? I wish at least they’d said I hit some damn man.”[2]
This incident was profiled on the television news magazine 60 Minutes due to claims of racial bias in the adjudication of the case. Douglas Wilder, at the time Governor of Virginia, became convinced that Iverson had been treated unfairly and controversially granted Iverson clemency, releasing him from his sentence. Iverson’s conviction was later overturned on appeal.
… hmm so maybe they aren’t so credible, we’ll hear more in part deux!!!
To be continued …
Posted by geber22 
