Yesterday a resident of Southside Richmond, Stacey A. Miller, was sentenced to four years in prison for his conviction of various charges related to dogfighting. The story was covered by Tom Campbell of the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Concluding what a prosecutor called Richmond’s biggest dogfighting case, Stacey A. Miller was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison, fined $20,000 and barred from owning any companion animals.

Miller, an Army veteran described in letters of support as a community-minded churchgoer, has “been a good and productive citizen,” his lawyer, John Mann, said in arguing for reduced prison time.

But good and productive citizens don’t take part in dogfighting and don’t abuse their animals, said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jaime Blackmon.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Alexander L. Taylor reminded the judge that a dozen of the dogs seized from Miller by animal-control officers and police last year have had to be euthanized, either because of serious illness, injury or malnutrition, or because their training as fighting dogs made them too dangerous for adoption. Taylor said the case is the city’s biggest dogfighting prosecution to date…

Click here to read the whole article.

No doubt, embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has been keeping an eye on the Miller case. So far nothing has been proven that links him to dogfighting and I sincerely hope Vick has nothing to do with it. An anonymous witness/accuser appearing on ESPN is hardly conclusive. But if he was an active participant in what seems to have been a dogfighting operation down in Surry, I hope he gets the same treatment as Miller.

On a depravity scale of one-to-ten I’m not sure where to put torturing dogs in the name of recreation. Yes, there are many things cruel people can do that are worse and more damaging to society than what Miller has been convicted of doing. But few are more disgusting.