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| 28th July, 2007 - 2:26 pm |  New York Daily News - Barely a day after he joined three other co-defendants - including Falcons quarterback Michael Vick - in pleading not guilty to dogfighting charges in a Richmond, Va. federal courthouse, Tony Taylor was the first to accept a plea bargain.
The 34-year-old Taylor, who is from Hampton, Va., will appear before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson at 9 a.m. Monday, according to The Associated Press. Taylor was the alleged ringleader, according to the 18-page indictment handed down July 17, responsible for identifying Vick's property in rural Smithfield, Va., as the location where "Bad Newz Kennels" would house and train pit bulls and stage fights.
Taylor's attorney, Stephen Ashton Hudgins, did not return a call by the Daily News last night. The other three defendants - Vick, 35-year-old Purnell Peace and 28-year-old Quanis Phillips - still are scheduled for trial Nov. 26, but Taylor's bombshell may suggest a domino effect, especially with Vick's football star severely dimmed ever since the allegations surfaced.
"Usually what happens in that (kind of) case, one of the co-defendants will give information. Whoever talks first ends up with the best deal," William Frick, a former prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's office in South Carolina who has prosecuted several dogfighting cases, told The News. "I don't know if that happened in this case, but typically whoever comes first gets the best deal." [READ] |
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