Governor Kaine Signs Tough New Dogfighting Bill into Law

State RICO Laws to Cover Organized Dogfighting

RICHMOND – As of July 1, criminals convicted of dogfighting in the state of Virginia will face even tougher legal penalties under a new law signed by Governor Kaine. The law, written by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and patroned by state Senator W. Roscoe Reynolds, adds organized dogfighting to the list of crimes that may be prosecuted under the state’s RICO ("Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act") laws, giving prosecutors the power to go after dogfighting operations as organized criminal enterprises. Both Oregon and Utah have similar laws in place.

RICO—a powerful tool to combat organized criminal operations—has historically been used to address a wide variety of organized criminal efforts, including drug dealing, gambling, and trading in child pornography. Given the option to utilize RICO in a dogfighting operation, law enforcement authorities will now have increased abilities in seeking justice for the animals abused and, as in the recent Michael Vick case, even killed by their owners.

While dogfighting is already illegal in Virginia, the ability to bring a state RICO case provides specific advantages to law enforcement overseeing dogfighting investigations in Virginia, including:

• More comprehensive investigatory powers;
• Extended statutes of limitations;
• Longer sentences (in terms of both actual incarceration and the length of post-prison supervision);
• Larger fines; 
• Pre-conviction "seize and freeze" of a defendant's assets; and 
• Forfeiture of the assets used in, and gains generated from, the dogfighting activities.
  

These are key legal tools in combating organized dogfighting rings – highly organized and guarded criminal enterprises that are extremely difficult for law enforcement to penetrate.

"The vast majority of all dogfighting cases are discovered as a collateral matter to some other type of criminal investigation, be it a drug case, a gambling investigation or simply in response to a 911 dispatch to a domestic disturbance," says ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. "Adding dogfighting as a RICO trigger gives law enforcement additional tools, and a strong incentive, to start directly targeting organized dogfighting rings—not to mention that it sends a very strong message to the dogfighting community that the stakes just got substantially higher. We salute Governor Kaine and the Virginia Assembly for taking this strong stand."