The NFL on Monday ordered Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to stay away from the team's training camp until the league reviews the federal dogfighting charges against him.
In a letter written by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the quarterback was told, "While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies, including the personal conduct policy."
Vick was not immediately available for comment Monday, and telephone messages left late Monday night for his attorney in Virginia were not returned. The Falcons scheduled a news conference today to discuss the league's stance.
The Falcons open training camp in Flowery Branch, Ga., on Thursday, the same day Vick, 27, is scheduled to appear inside a U.S. District courtroom in Richmond, Va. Attorneys are expected to decide at the hearing whether they will request a jury trial or a bench trial heard by a federal judge.
Vick, the league's former No. 1 overall draft pick from Virginia Tech who directed the Falcons to the NFC championship game in 2005, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week. The charges allege he was a central figure with three others who violated laws against dogfighting and gambling while operating Bad Newz Kennels on property Vick owns in Surry, Va.
The indictment alleged pit bulls that didn't fare well in fights were executed by hanging, drowning, electrocution, shooting and beating. Vick faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison and $350,000 in fines if convicted.
Vick hasn't publicly discussed the dogfighting case since April, when he denied involvement.
But animal rights groups have railed against the quarterback since the indictment, holding demonstrations such as Monday's in Flowery Branch, where an estimated four dozen people protested in a rally organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They held signs reading "Kick Vick," "Tackle Cruelty" and "Sack Vick!"
"Just because he's famous, he shouldn't get off the hook," said Emory Lewman, 12, of Sandy Springs, Ga. "What he did was terrible."
The Humane Society of the United States said the NFL "rightly recognized that it just cannot be business as usual for Vick and the Falcons with this chilling set of facts laid out in the federal indictment," President and Chief Executive Wayne Pacelle said.
