Our justice system in this country is out of whack

That sentence isn't the most profound statement ever written.  But I'm just at a loss. 

At some point in this country, someone decided that in breed discrimination issues that people are guilty until proven innocent.

We've made a practice of destroying people's property before a trial decision has been reached so that the property is gone (dead) before the person is found not- guilty.

Now, apparently we are suspending sentences for people who plead guilty to felony charges.

So apparently, Mike Vick plead guilty yesterday to state dogfighting charges.  In doing so, he may be able to get his 3-year federal sentence reduced because he is unable to get out of federal prison while state charges are still pending.  In exchange for the plea, the state is offering him a suspended sentence (at the recommendation of  Surry County Attorney Gerald Poindexter) that would allow him to go immediately into a halfway house program and would not serve any jail terms for state level felony crimes.  And in Vick's case, this wouldn't be just one felony crime - but it could multiple cases of felony animal cruelty -- one case for each abused dog.

A suspended sentence is not sending a message that we as a society feel like dog fighting is a major crime.  And we need to. Badly. 

Comments

[PAMM - People Against Mad Mothers]

WTF!? Gerald Poindexter is a CRIMINAL!!!! Who cares what crime this is about - pleading guilty to MORE criminal activity gets you LESS time in jail?

[SocialMange]

Reducing Vick's sentence would be beyond wrong. It would send entirely the wrong message about dog fighting and animal abuse. Poindexter must be an absolute peabrain.

[EmilyS]

What happened to all that swagger about the state not being done with Vick?

What does the state (and the people) get out of a PLEA? He's already guilty at the fed level and coughed up that $$$$$$ for the dogs. Is he going to do something more to benefit society?

[Nicole Sica]

It's disgraceful, but I have just come from LA and can tell you these things happen with some frequency--and usually with little to no consequence, and scarce media attention. It was Vicks fame that brought this issue to light in the deep south, and it is his fame that will save his behind now.

How many common, everyday people really understand what happens at a dogfight? It is brutal, bloody, horrifying, and shameful--but really, how many people in America have actually witnessed the end results? Outside of the most southernmost regions, I would venture to guess very few.

So what does that mean? It means there a lot of football fans out there. It means there are a number of people who would think Vicks convictions was over the top instigated by "tree-huggers," and "animal-crazies." It means that while most people would admit he should be punished (dogfighting is illegal, after all), some would think Vick was unfairly singled out because of his fame. It means, quite simply, that the existence of a well-thrown football has more value than the life of a chewed-up dog.

And the reduction of his sentence by lawmakers will only officially validate such idiocy.

[Good Luck Canada]

Let`s hope Canada`s Justice System isn`t.
Their Legal Challenge decision is to be released today at noon.
http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions_index/notice.htm

[Good Luck Canada]

Their appeal was denied

http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2008/october/2008ONCA0718.htm

[Selma]

This decision gives the government unlimited power to ban any kind of dog and in fact, any kind of property - without having to prove a reasonable justification for it, use local evidence or even factual evidence in order to prevail.

If there are three attacks by 'brown dogs', with this decision, the government has the power to ban 'brown dogs' - without having to prove that the dogs in question were brown, or to define brown. The same goes for other kinds of animals and any inanimate object.

To say we are disappointed is to put it mildly.

People need to put a little more thought into who they elect to office, as well as look past red herrings such as the nonexistent 'pit bull' to assess what is really going on.

Our civil rights are being eroded in broad, bloody daylight through legal tricks and lawyers' games.