{"id":913,"date":"2009-05-21T10:50:08","date_gmt":"2009-05-21T15:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=913"},"modified":"2009-05-22T11:28:36","modified_gmt":"2009-05-22T16:28:36","slug":"torture-masterminds-the-prosecution-of-michael-vick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/21\/torture-masterminds-the-prosecution-of-michael-vick\/","title":{"rendered":"Torture Masterminds & the Prosecution of Michael Vick"},"content":{"rendered":"

So Michael Vick has been released from federal prison after serving 19 months for dog abuse.<\/p>\n

Vick was prosecuted by an organization – the U.S. Justice Department – renowned for crafting legal rationales for torture.<\/p>\n

Maybe if Vick had claimed that he was talking to the dogs – trying to get information out of them about Saddam and 9\/11 – at the same time he abused them, the Justice Department would have given him a commendation instead of prosecuting him. <\/p>\n

Vick’s case was settled by a plea agreement. It is a disgrace that judges accept such plea agreements as “voluntary,” since prosecutors ladle on so many charges that such deals are often the equivalent of a robber’s option: “your money or your life.”<\/p>\n

American citizens rarely have the opportunity to pass judgment on the conduct of prosecutors. Legislators have assured that fewer people each decade can afford to risk total ruin by seeking a jury verdict.<\/p>\n

What Vick did to dogs was despicable and he can rightfully be condemned for it by other Americans.<\/p>\n

But to have the U.S. Justice Department preening itself on this case…. What a load of bunk. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So Michael Vick has been released from federal prison after serving 19 months for dog abuse. Vick was prosecuted by an organization – the U.S. Justice Department – renowned for crafting legal rationales for torture. Maybe if Vick had claimed that he was talking to the dogs – trying to get information out of them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTorture Masterminds & the Prosecution of Michael Vick - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/21\/torture-masterminds-the-prosecution-of-michael-vick\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Torture Masterminds & the Prosecution of Michael Vick - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So Michael Vick has been released from federal prison after serving 19 months for dog abuse. 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