Ethics Newsline®

ATLANTA
Last week’s indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on charges related to his alleged participation in a series of gruesome dog-fighting matches has put pressure on the National Football League (NFL) to suspend him.

The New York Times reports that league officials, waiting for the case to progress, did not immediately announce plans to remove Vick from the roster.

The NFL’s inaction has prompted protests by animal rights activists and a call from Massachusetts senator John Kerry asking the league commissioner to immediately suspend Vick, according to the Times.

Various press reports indicate that the Falcons are quietly attempting to persuade Vick to take a voluntary leave of absence, according to MSNBC.

Meanwhile, apparel and sporting goods manufacturer Nike is suspending the release of a new shoe named after Vick, reports the trade journal Advertising Age. But in a statement that deplored “any cruelty to animals” as “inhumane and abhorrent,” Nike kept the door open, saying that Vick should “be afforded the same due process as any citizen; therefore, we have not terminated our relationship.”

Vick is facing federal charges that he was in the midst of a dog-fighting operation that involved high-stakes gambling and the killing of several pit bulls, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Conviction, reports the paper, almost certainly would lead to prison time.

The case has brought attention to what activists and law-enforcement officials say is “an increasingly popular, savage underground culture,” according to a story from National Public Radio. Despite being outlawed in all U.S. states, NPR reports that the industry is thriving in urban areas and the rural South.

The fact that the case has been brought by federal authorities is particularly bad news for Vick, according to an analysis from the ESPN, which notes that prosecutors in federal cases have virtually unlimited resources and federal cases have a high rate of conviction.