For multiple years, then-Falcons quarterback Mike Vick ran a dogfighting operation under the nose of Surry County, Virginia prosecutor Gerald Poindexter. Once the dogfighting operation was discovered, Poindexter created the impression in the opinion of some (including me) that he was dragging his feet, looking for a reason not to prosecute Vick. After the federal government swooped in an obtained an indictment, a guilty plea, and an admission from Vick that he had killed multiple dogs that were deemed unfit to fight, Poindexter still wasn’t even able to get an indictment from a grand jury on state-level charges of animal cruelty.
But Poindexter was able to initiate charges against the folks who transformed Vick’s property, the site of Bad Newz Kennels, into The Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs.
As explained by the Associated Press, Poindexter filed charges against the group’s founder and executive director, Tamira Thayne, after authorities seized a pit bull from the facility. She was accused of animal cruelty and failure to provide adequate care to a companion animal, but a judge later ordered that the dog be returned. Poindexter then dropped the charges.
That wasn’t the end of it. Thayne has filed a federal lawsuit against Surry County chief animal control officer Tracy Terry and others. The lawsuit states that the charges were rooted in retribution.
“Thayne has been an outspoken critic of Surry County, Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter, and Surry County Animal Control’s anemic handling of the Michael Vick dogfighting enterprise and belated prosecution,” the civil complaint alleges.
The case is ongoing, and the Good Newz Rehab Center continues to operate, rescuing, rehabilitating, and adopting roughly 400 dogs. There are plans to expand Vick’s former property to house up to 50 dogs at a time.
Meanwhile, Vick continues to look for his next NFL opportunity, after five seasons with the Eagles and one with the Jets. There’s a belief that some teams have shied away from Vick and will continue to do so because of his dogfighting history. The publication of an AP story about his former dogfighting property during the NFL news void of Fourth of July weekend won’t make any teams that feel this way any more inclined to pursue him.
