Continuing with the football theme, Michael Vick took the field last week for the first time since he was suspended in 2007 for his involvement in a dogfighting ring. I tip my hat to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie for giving him the second chance that, apparently, some think he does not deserve. As the New York Times set out, the decision to bring Vick to the Eagles was not easy for Lurie on the most personal level.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ owner, Jeffrey Lurie, said he wanted to see self-hatred in Michael Vick, wanted to know that the player his head coach and quarterback both wanted for the Eagles could grasp the “cruelty, the torture, the complete disregard for any definition of human decency” that disgusted Lurie. This week, in a one-on-one meeting, Lurie, who called himself an “extreme dog lover” who thinks every day about two family pets who have died in the last two years, said he came away convinced that Vick could do more than just provide a dynamic element to his offense. Vick, Lurie said, had so completely transformed his life that he could complete what has become his new mission: to help save more animals than he had harmed.

[...]Lurie spoke of Vick’s crimes in often-harsh language and said Vick had “disgraced” the league. Lurie indulged in considerable soul searching, and sought to learn all the details of Vick’s troubles, before giving the go-ahead to sign Vick, who will make $1.6 million this season. Lurie said he would measure Vick’s success not in yardage but in whether he can create social change and diminish the level of animal cruelty, particularly in the inner city.

He also had to worry about animal-rights groups and, heck, just plain-old dog lovers, and how they would take to anyone allowing Michael Vick a second chance at football- and all the wealth, fame, and power that can come with it when you've got star potential like Michael Vick has. Apparently, these same folks generated a considerable amount of media against Vick when he was under investigation and may have played a part in the fact that he prosecuted and the time he spent in jail for his crime.

But despite Lurie's own deeply held beliefs and reservations, and the potential hit the Eagles might take from dog-loving fans, Lurie is giving him a second chance. But let's be clear: At the most fundamental level, hiring Vick was not about saving Vick. It was a business decision the Eagles made to upgrade their roster.

Still, I can't help but be impressed with Lurie. Standing up for someone who's done something criminal and, even worse, cruel, isn't easy. We do it every day in our practice. And we all believe that there is something to be proud of in standing up for people in trouble.
Even more, in our practice we try to take the Jeffrey Lurie position and pull something good from something that's pretty bad. When it's appropriate, we work hard to convince prosecutors that giving someone a second chance is often a lot smarter in the bigger picture than locking them up and throwing away the key.

Lurie is going to be sure that Michael Vick uses his position to educate children about animal cruelty. Vick would never be able to do that as an ex-football star. But as a current football star? Well, that's a whole 'nother story.

Labels: dogs, football, second chances, standing up for people

posted by Raman Gill   permalink   0 Comments

That picture over there has been my desktop background on my computer here in the office for months. It’s easy to see why, really. I mean, Rex the Wonder Dog is a pretty remarkable creature, rescuing stagecoaches whose drivers have fallen ill and all. (Not to mention fighting bulls – as in bullfighting – and saving airplanes from crashing.) I found it while I was doing some research on police dog experts, and stumbled upon this site, which is a – how you say – passionate take on the issue. The caption for the image was "America needs Rex the Wonder Dog, not Adolf the Nazi Dog”, and, okay, that might have been my Google chat status for a few weeks, too, given that it’s one of the three greatest sentences ever formed in the English language.

Anyway, on the subject of police dogs –

There’s a really interesting post about “scent lineups”, where a dog testifies in court, essentially, by picking the scent of the culprit out of a group of five, over on Grits for Breakfast. This actually happens in South Texas, apparently quite often – Grits cites the Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputy who personally administers things as claiming to have used scent lineups in over 2,000 cases, which is just staggering. Because, well – I have a dog. Before he goes out, in order to calm him down once the door’s open and he’s wearing the leash, rarin’ to go for a walk, I make him sit and then I count to five. Sure enough, he sits patiently for one-two-three-four, and then as five nears his ears perk up and he gets ready to go, and when the word five escapes my lips, he takes his first steps out the door.

I’m a rational person, and I’m not so delusional about my dog-whispering skills to believe that I’ve actually taught my dog math. I can recognize that my body language changes as I gear up to go out the door as I near five. The leash tenses, my stance changes slightly, my weight shifts to the foot I’ll be leading with, and it’s a dog’s job to be aware of these things. By the time I hit five, he’s aware that, based on subtle changes in the way I’m holding my body, something is happening.

Now imagine that a dog’s leash is being held as he’s being asked to respond to a certain scent. The deputy holding the leash has his own opinions on the guilt of the person being identified in the “lineup”, and when the dog reaches the correct scent, it seems just as likely that his body language is liable to shift and provide cues for the dog as mine is during the wait-and-count-to-five scene before going out for a walk. It’s hard not to think that, if this counts as evidence that’s held up in court, I’ve got a pretty strong case to make that I’ve taught my dog to count.

Labels: dogs, evidence, lineups, rex the wonder dog

posted by Dan   permalink   0 Comments

We picked up one excellent word — a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — "lagniappe." They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure.

In Southern Louisiana, one often hears the term "lagniappe" used to describe the small things that make life a little sweeter. This word often comes to my mind when I'm doing a little extra for my clients - this is one of my favorite parts of my job. The opportunity to put personal touches on my law practice at my firm is one for which I am grateful.

Last Friday, for example, I got the news that one of our client's felonies was dismissed. I emailed my client to let him know. I told him that I'd pick up a copy of the dismissal on Monday morning when I was at court and fax it to him. He was thrilled and indicated to me that he couldn't wait to have the dismissal in hand. Normally, our runner would be down there in no time to pick up the dismissal for us, but he was out of town visiting his new niece. As I was wrapping things up for the weekend, I decided to run down to the courthouse myself so that my client could have his dismissal over the weekend.

Everybody takes some satisfaction in being someone that people turn to, and that's a rewarding part of my job. I got a call earlier this week that really upset me - one of my former clients called to tell me that his pit bull had been shot by law enforcement. While I couldn't help him legally, I was able to make a couple of calls to people I know in the community and help him with both legal and veterinary options. My fellow dog lovers out there will be happy to know that the dog is doing much better, and hopefully we'll be getting good news about the legal outcome as well.

Labels: dismissal, dogs, lagniappe

posted by Kristi Couvillon   permalink   0 Comments