Va. judge denies Vick’s video plea request

Michael Vick’s request to enter a guilty plea to state dogfighting charges by two-way electronic video was denied Thursday at a brief hearing in Virginia.

Surry County Circuit Court judge Sam Campbell ruled that Vick must appear in person to enter a plea. He set a court date of Nov. 25.

Vick, the imprisoned Falcons quarterback, is currently serving a 23-month federal prison term on felony charges related to dogfighting. The state indictment charges Vick with one count of torturing and killing dogs and a count of promoting dogfighting. Each carries a maximum five-year prison term.

A plea agreement has been reached and signed by all parties. Surry County Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter has said that under the terms of the deal, Vick will receive a three-year suspended prison term and a $2,500 fine. The fine will be suspended if Vick pays court costs and maintains good behavior for four years.

Vick’s attorneys, Billy Martin and Larry Woodward, maintained that a plea by video would save time and expense. However, Poindexter balked at the idea, leading to Thursday’s hearing. Campbell ruled that Surry County must pay to transport Vick from Leavenworth, Kansas for the Nov. 25 hearing.

“This has been a long and very difficult road for Michael,” Martin said. “He has been incarcerated for over a year and hopes to bring closure to this case.”

The motion is an attempt by Vick’s attorneys to bring closure to the state case.

“We are very happy with the judge’s ruling,” Woodward said. “For my standpoint, the fact that we are going to have the hearing and the case is going to be resolved within the next few weeks is a good result for Michael and will help him get where he needs to be.”

If Vick, who is scheduled to be released from federal prison July 20, 2009, can resolve his state case, he would become eligible to participate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons re-entry program. That might include entry into a halfway house for up to six months. Vick cannot serve a portion of his sentence in a halfway house until he has resolved the pending state charges.

“We were fine with [pleading] by video or personally,” Woodward said. “We just wanted to get it done so that he can apply to be in the halfway house.”

Woodward declined to elaborate on Vick entering a halfway house.

“It’s a process and that process is ongoing,” Woodward said. “I don’t want to comment on that. Obviously, he needed to get this case resolved in order for that process to move forward.”