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By LARRY O'DELL
HAMPTON
Suspended NFL star Michael Vick ended his federal dogfighting sentence Monday, freeing him to lobby for a return to the field.
Vick's attorney Lawrence Woodward told The Associated Press outside Vick's Hampton home that the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback had been released from federal custody as scheduled. That means Vick no longer has to wear the electronic monitor he's had while under home confinement for the last two months of his 23-month sentence.
Shortly before Woodward came out of the house, two men in a government car with a U.S. Probation Services folder on the dashboard paid a brief visit to the home. They carried a large case similar to the one that Vick's ankle monitor was delivered in when he started home confinement. The men declined to identify themselves or speak to waiting reporters.
Vick then drove to the federal courthouse in Norfolk to meet federal probation officials to take care of paperwork. Vick declined to answer reporters' questions as he left the courthouse with Woodward about an hour and 45 minutes later.
Freedom will allow Vick to step up his efforts to resume his pro football career. Vick hopes to soon meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has said he would review Vick's status after Vick completed his sentence.
Goodell has said he wants to sit down with Vick, but it's unclear when that face-to-face meeting will take place.
"The review of his status is ongoing, but we are providing no other details at this time," league spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday.
If Vick is able to return to the NFL, it won't be with Atlanta. The Falcons released him in June.
"Michael did an egregious thing," Goodell told The Associated Press in April. "He has paid a very significant price for that."
He said people are forgiving when someone who has done wrong shows remorse and is prepared to live a different life.
"That's something he has to prove to myself and the general public," Goodell said.
Vick did not initially show enough remorse to satisfy U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson. The 29-year-old player apologized in court in 2007, but Hudson denied him an "acceptance of responsibility" credit that could have reduced his sentence. He sentenced Vick to 23 months in prison — more than any of Vick's three co-defendants.
Under the federal truth-in-sentencing law, Vick had to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence. He served the first 18 months in the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., before being transferred to home confinement in May.
While on home confinement, Vick — once the NFL's highest-paid player — worked a $10-an-hour construction job for a few weeks. He switched jobs last month, assisting in children's health and fitness programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula.
Vick will remain on probation for three years. He also is under a three-year suspended sentence for a state dogfighting conviction.
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What about...
the Philadelphia eagles, they need a quarterback?
It's over...
...can we not move on? If he was a plumber, you'd expect him to go pick up his tools and get to work. Vick needs to do the same, be it football or something else.
It amazes me that there are more comments over here than there are on the guilty verdict against the father who starved one of his babies to death!!
Michael Vick
Whether you are a Michael Vick fan or not, he has served all....ALL of his sentence. I hope he makes it back to the NFL, we need him. Now if, only, the freaks and do-gooders will leave him alone......He owes no one any explanation now!
Give the man a second chance
I believe that Michael Vick has served his legal obligation to society for his offenses. However, I do not believe the public will let him go so easily. I believe that he will play football again and for those who are offended, they have the right to boycott football but I have a feeling that the vast majority of them don't watch the game anyways. I do not condone in the least what he did but there comes a time after a person has done their time that we must be ready to give him a second chance. I believe that Michael Vick deserves a second chance. I think that after all he has gone through and lost I can't imagine him even J walking now.
censorship by Pilot
did anyone happen to notice the story recently of the Norfolk councilwoman's brother who was killed in a single-vehicle accident? I posted the first 2 comments on that story and almost immediately not only were my comments deleted, the comment tab was deleted as well. Then the story disappeared.I guess someone on the city council had more influence on this paper than the Constitution. Go figure.
Mike's paid his debt and I think he is remorseful. Good Luck #7
Someone will give you a shot. Someone who believes in redemption and second chances. You've earned that.
To STRAI8UP Comment and Our Bike Ride
This is to Strai8up's stance that if he were white this would never have happened: Well, we had a bike ride last week in support of PETA. Know what the title of the t-shirt's said? No, I'm sure your don't, because we supported a good cause, and did not support something/someone based on race. And yes, there were a few other folks there with different races that were with us in support of PETA, and why not? Maybe because we (all races that attended) supported the cause, an animals cause, not a cause based on race and enjoyed ourselves as Americans united.
People
If we can get the hate out of our vein, this might be a better counrty to live. Let everybody try and live their lives and stop trying to live someone else. It's bad enough when the system is bad, but we add to it with negative response. Vick did his time, so let it be. Everybody deserve a second chance in life.
Michael Vick and convicts in general
Those who are saying he paid his debt to society are quick to forget that he didn't take ownership of his deeds until the system had him dead-to-rights and had his "friends" as witnesses for the prosecution. No one who gets busted is ever sorry until they get busted. Then the "remorse" flows like a river. Boohoo. Vick had a great career. He still undoubtedly has a lot of talent and ability but he is a pariah. Not just a pariah but a pariah that hasn't shown remorse for anything but losing his career and his material things. If some company hires him to endorse their product, I certainly won't buy it and I will encourage everyone that I know to do likewise. Those of you who would support him returning to the NFL have a lot to learn. Think about this bit of wisdom... "Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent." - Terry Goodkind
It's the lie that get's you
Vick lied to everyone right up until his "friends" sold him out to save their own hides-only then did he tell the truth and all of a sudden become sorry for what he did.
Vick has no remorse except for the fact he was caught. Okay, he did his time but does he deserve a second "once in a lifetime" shot at a pro football career?
Well gee, I don't know-since we have all come to expect such great things from the Vick clan, drugs, weapons, dogfighting, tax evasion, illegal gambling, running from the cops, I'd have to say that the worst enemy a Vick could have is staring them in the mirror every morning. Give him another chance and he'll foul it up again-it's what the Vick's seem to be best at doing....