Suspended Falcons quarterback Michael Vick will go to trial on state dogfighting charges in Surry County, Virginia on April 2.
The date was set in a brief hearing at the Sussex County courthouse on Tuesday as his attorneys requested a jury trial.
Neither Vick nor his three co-defendants, who are all awaiting sentencing on federal felony charges related to dogfighting, were present at the hearing. The group is charged with running Bad Newz Kennels, a dogfighting operation based out of property Vick owned in Virginia.
Billy Martin, one of Vick’s attorney, has stated that he would fight the state charges on the grounds that under a Virginia statute Vick could not be convicted twice for events that occurred out of the same set of circumstances.
Vick and his co-defendants face state charges of beating or killing or causing dogs to fight other dogs and engaging in or promoting dogfighting. Each felony count carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Vick, who has been suspended indefinitely by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, reported to prison on Nov. 19 in Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va. to begin his sentence on the federal charges. He will be sentenced in that case on Dec. 10.
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