Marcus Vick was sentenced Thursday to 20 days in jail for violating his probation stemming from an October drunken driving conviction, but he was released on bond pending his appeal.
Vick, the younger brother of NFL player Michael Vick and a former football player himself, was found guilty in October of DUI, eluding police and a traffic infraction. Police said Vick fled from a bicycle officer downtown in June 2008 and failed a sobriety test when he was caught.
Vick got a 12-month suspended jail term on condition that he pay fines and complete the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program and stay away from drugs and alcohol.
Vick never completed the program. Prosecutor Richard Farley said Vick missed several appointments with counselors and for drug screens and tested positive for marijuana at one drug screen he attended.
In General District Court on Thursday, when a judge asked what an immediate drug screen would show, Vick said, “Positive.”
Vick had failed to pay court fines and fees until Thursday morning. He still has not paid the fee for the alcohol program. Vick said that was because he was unable to get a job until April, when he landed one at a shipyard. Farley noted that Vick had money to buy marijuana.
Vick told the judge he was due in Florida on Saturday to try out for a new football league. Like his brother, Vick played for Virginia Tech. He was dropped by the team in 2006 after a series of problems on the field and elsewhere. He was released by the Miami Dolphins in 2007.
Vick’s lawyer, Charles Lustig, asked Judge James S. Mathews to give Vick another chance to follow the court’s orders.
Mathews told Vick to remember his hearing in October.
“Your lawyer said ‘He wants to be treated like anybody else,’ ” Mathews said. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
Vick was taken into custody after the hearing, but he later posted $25,000 bond and was released.
Michelle Washington, (757) 446-2287, michelle.washington@pilotonline.com
Marcus Vick gets 20 days for violating probation | HamptonRoads …