Hide your dogs and cats!  Michael Vick  is a free man.   His sentence arising out of a conviction on federal dog-fighting charges has ended.  He is now free to make his case for reinstatement to the NFL.  Vick had previously been released from Federal prison to home-confinement but was required to wear an electronic ankle monitor.  He can now walk without a limp as that requirement has ended.

It is being reported that Vick will work with the Humane Society of the United States on anti dog-fighting campaigns.

It is a given that  Vick will seek to re-enter the NFL.  It has been reported that he could return to professional football as soon as September if reinstated by the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. I frankly do not see that happening.   NFL Commissioner Goodell will certainly want his own “stupid mouth” probationary period. That is a time frame long enough to see if Vick does or says anything stupid that would be in conflict with a claim of rehabilitation and remorse.

There will  also be opposition from animal rights groups and animal lovers in general.  I count myself among the animal lovers.  Many would even consider me a “radical” animal lover.  I am both anti-hunting and horse racing.  Do not however, count me among the opposition to Michael Vick being allowed to again play professional football.

When the time comes, should Roger Goodell find that Vick is in compliance with internal NFL conduct guidelines,  I believe he  should re-instate Vick’s eligibility to play and seek NFL employment under whatever probationary terms he deems appropriate.

Anyone who knows me is probably shocked as hell to read this. I have been active in various animal rights causes and benefits.  I screamed loudest for Vick’s head on a doggie platter and a long prison sentence. I was disappointed when his state sentence ran concurrent with his federal sentence although as an attorney I was expecting just that.

I do not like Michael Vick.  I think he is a gangster thug.  I admit that I have never met him.  It does not matter.   In my mind it is res ipsa loquitur.  If you abuse animals or take pleasure from watching them abused that is all I need to know.  You are a bad person and a gangster thug.  End of story.

I  believe Michael Vick will  again end up in trouble with the law.  Why?  I believe that anyone who abuses animals or takes pleasure in watching them abused has on a certain level, a sociopath personality.  That person lacks the mental mechanism to understand societal values.  This  moral disconnect will more often than not lead to long term trouble.  You can’t grow a conscience regardless of any explanation for not having one.

With all that being said how could I possibly support Michael Vick?

I support Micheal Vick being allowed to seek employment in the NFL because I respect our justice system and the equality of judgment it is supposed to represent, even if it often does not always work out that way.  Michel Vick was judged.  He is paying his debt born out of that judgment.  Once that happens, our Constitution and justice system mandates that while we can hold opinions, express them and judge him as a person, we can no longer legally judge his act.

I am comfortable enough in my convictions in this area to know that I would never hire someone who did what he did to work for me in any capacity.  You have the right to ask me for a job.  I have the right to say no.  I have the right to bring my moral compass into play in saying no.  You have the right to find someone else to hire you in the same type of job who may view things differently than I do.

Michael Vick has paid his legal dues to society.  He should not have to pay them again in being denied the right to seek employment.  I know there will be an NFL owner or two who does not view Michael Vick the same way I do. The NFL is too competitive and the margin of error too small.  A team will give him a chance.  I won’t like it.  I however am not society’s moral gatekeeper.  The NFL and individual team owners will decide which way their own compass points.

I will say that whoever hires Michael Vick had better hope that somewhere deep inside himself  he has found the guilt ridden emotions that help shape the human conscience.  If he has not, it is a given that  he will be judged again.