Vick Pleads Guilty

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick agreed on Monday to plead guilty in a dog-fighting case that could wreck the star's football career.

His attorney, Thomas Shuttleworth, told Reuters that Vick reached a deal with prosecutors and will plead guilty in the case that has attracted worldwide attention.

Had Vick not cut a deal, the 27-year-old multi-millionaire was likely to face a new indictment with more charges, legal sources have said.

Vick could face jail and his football future is in doubt. The National Football League, whose season begins next month, suspended the three-time Pro Bowl selection after the indictment.

A strong-armed quarterback and breakaway runner who is one of the NFL's most dynamic players, Vick is accused of helping run an interstate dog-fighting enterprise known as "Bad Newz Kennels" from 2001 through April 2007.

Dogfighting, in which two dogs bred to fight are placed in a pit to attack one another for spectators' entertainment and gambling, is illegal in the United States.

Vick had initially denied direct involvement in the pit bull fights that the indictment said took place on his property in Virginia.

Prosecutors charged that dogs sometimes fought to the death and some losing or underperforming dogs had been shot, drowned, hanged, electrocuted or killed by being slammed to the ground.