Evidence against Vick is compelling

Court cases against Michael Vick make it clear he funded and participated in a dogfighting ring, and he was likely present when dogs were drowned or hanged. It's slightly less clear whether he personally killed animals.

Here are the some key points in Michael Vick's dogfighting career and the resulting criminal cases:

* June 2001 - Two months after he joins the Atlanta Falcons as the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, Vick buys a 15-acre plot in rural Virginia. On it he builds sheds, kennels and a five-bedroom home. For the next six years, it becomes his dogfighting compound, named Bad Newz Kennels.

* March 2003 - According to a 2007 federal indictment, after a female dog owned by Vick's kennel lost to a North Carolina dog, co-defendant Purnell Peace consults with Vick about the pit bull's condition, then "execute(s) the losing dog by wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal."

* April 2007 - According to the indictment, Vick and two co-defendants execute about eight dogs "by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

* April 2007 - Authorities raid Vick's compound and find 54 pit bulls, some with fighting scars and injuries, and a "rape stand" for strapping down female dogs too aggressive to submit to males for breeding.

* August 2007 - In a deal with federal prosecutors, Vick pleads guilty to a single count of conspiracy. Vick admits he agreed to the killing of six to eight dogs through the "collective efforts" of himself and his co-conspirators. He does not admit to participating in the killing.

At the sentencing hearing, a prosecutor says Vick admitted that he and a co-defendant had hanged two dogs. Afterward Vick publicly apologizes for his "immature acts" and says "dogfighting is a terrible thing."

* September 2007 - A grand jury indicts Vick and three co-defendants on state dogfighting charges. He tests positive for marijuana at his arraignment.

* November 2007 - Vick sells his dogfighting compound and home on the Virginia property to a developer for $450,000.

* December 2007 - Vick is sentenced to 23 months in prison on the federal conspiracy charge. He later pleads guilty to a state charge and gets a three-year suspended sentence.

* May 2009 - Vick is released from Leavenworth, Kan., prison.