Another Vick co-defendant is released from prison

Posted to: Crime Michael Vick News

By Peter Dujardin

NEWPORT NEWS

Daily Press

Two of Michael Vick's co-defendants in his dogfighting conspiracy case have been released — and another is set to get out next month.

Purnell A. Peace, 37, was released from federal custody on Jan. 6, Bureau of Prisons records show.

Another cohort, Quanis L. Phillips, 30, is slated for release on Feb. 22. He is listed by the Bureau of Prisons Web site as being "in transit," though it's unclear where he's being moved to.

Another defendant, Tony Taylor, 36, was released in March after three months in prison, and now lives in North Carolina.

Vick, a Newport News native, is a former football star at Warwick High School, Virginia Tech and the Atlanta Falcons. He pleaded guilty to the dog-fighting charges in August 2007.

Vick, sentenced to 23 months in prison, is set for release from a prison in Leavenworth, Kan., on July 20, according to Bureau of Prisons Web site. But one of his bankruptcy attorneys, Paul K. Campsen of Norfolk, said last week that Vick was set to be moved "any day" to finish his term in a halfway house in Newport News. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce declined to release information about when Vick would be moved.

Like Vick, Peace, Phillips and Taylor were charged with conspiracy "to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture."

Peace pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced in November 2007 to 18 months in federal prison. He reported to prison at Fort Dix, N.J., in January 2008. His sentence was later modified by court order to 14 months. The term was reduced further with good behavior.

Phillips, who pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2007, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

He reported to prison at Coleman, Fla., in March 2008. He got more time than Peace because he failed a drug test while awaiting trial.

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What ever happene.....

Submitted by deborahj0204 on Wed, 02/04/2009 at 3:26 pm.

What ever happened to "do the crime, do the time"??!! These sentences are nothing but a joke. "Time off for good behavior"....what an oxymoron...I suppose i was good behavior that got these guys into jail in the first place. Vick and his cohorts need to stay in jail for the entire time of their sentences. Vick needs to be grateful for a roof over his head, 3 meals a day, and a job....there are a lot of decent, law-abiding folks who don't even have that much. Nothing like the good old USA rewarding criminals while the rest of the country suffers through.....how pathetic!