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Felony "Animal Cruelty"

9K views 106 replies 29 participants last post by  Tanya 
#1 ·
I have a friend who is facing down a felony "animal cruelty" charge for shooting two of her neighbor's pit bulls that came on her property recently. She killed one and winged the other. My poor friend has been at the mercy of these dogs for more than a year. Her neighbor had a pit bull that had puppies and he never found homes for them or bothered to contain them. These dogs have been menacing the entire neighborhood ever since and my friend has felt like a hostage in her own home. Her own dog was attacked last year and had extensive vet bills. The dogs recently cornered an elderly person in their neighborhood. The police and animal control have been out numerous times and the owner has been warned repeatedly, but nothing has ever actually been done about the dogs. Finally my friend ended up shooting two of the dogs when they came on her property, but because they weren't actually in the act of attacking her or her animals, the cop slapped her with an animal cruelty charge!

If dogs with a violent history have been running in a pack and menacing the neighborhood, I don't see how shooting them on your property is cause for a criminal charge! If you wait until they are already attacking you, it's probably too late to grab your gun. And if you wait until they're attacking your animals, the odds of you accidentally hitting your own pet is really high. I'm angry that the police would charge my friend with animal cruelty when they know full well that these dogs have been threatening the neighborhood for over a year and have already seriously injured my friend's dog. My friend is afraid to go out of her house unarmed, she's afraid to ride her horse from her own property, she can't let her dog outside unsupervised, she can't let her grandsons come over to her house and if they do they can't play outdoors. It's a nightmare situation. My friend hired a lawyer and I hope she wins her case, but if she loses she could have her animals taken away from her. I can't believe the law is this backwards! Just had to vent...
 
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#66 · (Edited)
Thanks for asking. My friend had her arraignment on December 16th and she pled "not guilty" by reason of protecting livestock. The judge did not dismiss the case and I think it's because the DA really wants her to plead guilty to a lesser charge. It just goes to show how corrupt our "justice" system is in this country. It's all about winning cases and it's rarely about actually making sure justice is served. So at this point I think it's a game of chicken with the DA. If he can get my friend to panic and take the lesser charge, he wins. If she decides to fight this it's going to cost her a lot of money, but she decided to fight it anyway. I think the case can still be dismissed before the trial on April 15th and I truly hope it is. I think my friend will win her case if it's heard in court, but as I said, it's a lot of expense and bother for her to win. It's also scary because if she gets found guilty of animal cruelty, the penalty could be 12-18 months in jail. The threat of this possibility is enough to make many people plead to lesser charges even if they're totally innocent, which of course is not justice at all.

The man with the dogs had his arraignment a few weeks ago and he pled guilty to ELEVEN "dog at large" charges. He just paid the fines and went home. The dogs have been "at large" several times since then and my friend has it on camera but she knows now that no one is going to do anything about it. The owner doesn't care how many fines he pays and the authorities seem totally uninterested in taking his dogs away. My friend is also afraid to call the cops now. When they came to question her they said they weren't considering charges against her and then they charged her anyway! So now she doesn't want the cops out to her property again.

Word on the street is that the dog owner launders money for some drug lord up in Denver so he's flush with cash and doesn't care how many fines he pays. The man has a serious criminal record and has spent time in jail in the past, so I'm actually kind of wondering if the authorities are avoiding hitting him on any small potatoes charges because they're trying to build a big case so they can put him away for a long time. I really hope that's what's happening. He shot 30 rounds off in the direction of my friend's house after the dog incident. Apparently he has at least one fully-automatic weapon in his house and numerous other weapons despite his felony record. The cops know he has guns but have not charged him with illegal weapons possession which makes me think they might be building a bigger case. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few months.
 
#71 ·
I think I would go PUBLIC with this information on her trial. It sounds like a farse. All it takes is for the Judge & Attorney to be Publicised outside of their tiny jurisdiction. Let others SEE whats going on. Wonder how fast her case would be excused.
 
#72 ·
Wow..prayers for your friend!! It's unbelievable
 
#75 ·
I have 2 things to say...
My husband got a pitbull and I managed it until he was 11 years old. He got out of his yard and killed 1 of my goats, most of my chickens, and I found out later that he'd been killing the the cats for years.

Conversely...
One day we put our goats out across the creek in the back of our property. About half an hour later our dog chased the goats in and dissapeared.
We get a frantic call from our neighbors that my dog is chasing his sheep.
We run over and the sheep are coming out of the barn and laying in the sun.
The dog put his sheep away. The next day one of his heifer calves was killed by a cougar that was big enough to drag it up a tree.

Years earlier but, best dog I've ever owned. He was German Shepherd and wolf.
 
#76 ·
I lost interest in this thread when the mods took control of it and then I forgot about it.

I talked to my friend the other day. She's fighting the charge which has so far cost her $6000 in lawyer fees. If she pleads guilty to a lesser charge she'll get a slap on the wrist but the dog owner has already said he'll sue her in civil court, so she's between a rock and a hard place. Her lawyer is trying to get the charges dropped based on incomplete evidence on the part of law enforcement. It seems that the cop who brought the charges is one of those people who thinks anyone who hurts or kills a dog is automatically guilty. She never even looked at the place where the dogs were shot, the footprints and blood in the snow next to the horse corral, etc. The dog owner claimed my friend shot his dogs on his own property and the cop never investigated that claim. The dog owner is caught lying on body cam and the cop never even looked into it or checked his story against my friend's story. The fresh snow told the story but the cop refused to look even when my friend offered to show her.

The cop further stated that the dogs had no prior incidents and were harmless. But that was also a lie because animal control sent her a lengthy report on these dogs' history with multiple dog at large and dangerous dog charges--she chose to ignore that report. The dates confirm that she'd received animal control's report prior to filing her own (very different) report. Unfortunately my friend doesn't have any recourse to press charges against the cop. There are too many laws granting immunity and protection to police even when they are totally corrupt. We should know this week if the trial gets thrown out. If not, it's scheduled for April 15th.

In any case, when all is said and done I'll be calling the sheriff and telling him what I think of this deputy. No one wants to call the cops if corrupt, dishonest, and unreasonable people are allowed to remain on the force. We need some serious police and justice reform in this country. Apparently 99% of criminal cases in this county are plea bargained, and 95% in the state are plea bargained. That's not justice. If it costs this much to stand trial, it's no wonder that people take the plea bargain even if they're not guilty. And it's a good (or bad!) way for guilty people to walk free with a slap on the wrist. Whatever this system is, it's not justice. And there really needs to be a way to go after dishonest cops. We truly give them way too much power and authority without requiring them to earn it, and we have very little recourse when some choose to abuse it.
 
#77 ·
I lost interest in this thread when the mods took control of it and then I forgot about it.

I talked to my friend the other day. She's fighting the charge which has so far cost her $6000 in lawyer fees. If she pleads guilty to a lesser charge she'll get a slap on the wrist but the dog owner has already said he'll sue her in civil court, so she's between a rock and a hard place. Her lawyer is trying to get the charges dropped based on incomplete evidence on the part of law enforcement. It seems that the cop who brought the charges is one of those people who thinks anyone who hurts or kills a dog is automatically guilty. She never even looked at the place where the dogs were shot, the footprints and blood in the snow next to the horse corral, etc. The dog owner claimed my friend shot his dogs on his own property and the cop never investigated that claim. The dog owner is caught lying on body cam and the cop never even looked into it or checked his story against my friend's story. The fresh snow told the story but the cop refused to look even when my friend offered to show her.

The cop further stated that the dogs had no prior incidents and were harmless. But that was also a lie because animal control sent her a lengthy report on these dogs' history with multiple dog at large and dangerous dog charges--she chose to ignore that report. The dates confirm that she'd received animal control's report prior to filing her own (very different) report. Unfortunately my friend doesn't have any recourse to press charges against the cop. There are too many laws granting immunity and protection to police even when they are totally corrupt. We should know this week if the trial gets thrown out. If not, it's scheduled for April 15th.

In any case, when all is said and done I'll be calling the sheriff and telling him what I think of this deputy. No one wants to call the cops if corrupt, dishonest, and unreasonable people are allowed to remain on the force. We need some serious police and justice reform in this country. Apparently 99% of criminal cases in this county are plea bargained, and 95% in the state are plea bargained. That's not justice. If it costs this much to stand trial, it's no wonder that people take the plea bargain even if they're not guilty. And it's a good (or bad!) way for guilty people to walk free with a slap on the wrist. Whatever this system is, it's not justice. And there really needs to be a way to go after dishonest cops. We truly give them way too much power and authority without requiring them to earn it, and we have very little recourse when some choose to abuse it.
I hope the trial goes in your friend's favor, this ain't fair to her, she did nothing wrong.
 
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#79 ·
Had this same thing happen to a friend of mine last December. Three dogs running loose on a rural neighborhood road, Shepherd/Pit crosses. Numerous neighbor complaints. Dangerous dogs.

My friends take turns walking their pet Pyr about a mile every morning. One morning, the 3 dogs came running out, snarling. While he was fending off one of them, another one ducked in and grabbed the bottom of his arm, doing a lot of damage. Cops confiscated the dogs.

There was a virtual hearing, with many of the neighbors testifying. The judge told the owner--you know, its legal to shoot a dog in KY that is attacking/threatening humans or livestock. You're lucky these people aren't pressing charges. He then ordered her to confine the dogs, or lose them for good.

So she put up CHICKEN WIRE to keep them in. Last I heard, the dogs were gone again.
 
#81 ·
Unfortunately one dog was wounded and ran straight home. I forgot to mention that the cop tried to charge my friend with hiding evidence because she dumped the dead dog's body off a cliff somewhere. When the cop asked my friend to show her the dead dog, she told her exactly where it was, so my friend was definitely not hiding evidence! She just needed the carcass off her property because she didn't have a way to bury it. I believe that charge was eventually dropped but I'm not sure.
 
#86 ·
Georgia has individual state, county, and city laws. In general we are a stand your ground state so our animal laws are probably more open than other states. In my county, a dog of any kind has to be on a leash or in a pen. The owner assumes all responsibilities of the dog. So in this same example. Dog shows up on my property. I run it off with words. If its not listening, or just being a nuisance, I have a pellet rifle that i can use to deter them.
They attack or try to attack any of my animals. I have a 30-30 and 308. What ever is left will be buried of fed to my chickens.
 
#91 ·
Colorado law allows people to kill dogs that are attacking, threatening, or otherwise harassing livestock. My friend was totally within her rights legally. The problem in this case is police corruption and refusal by the particular officer involved to even look at the evidence. She opted to side with the dog owner right out of the gate and wouldn't hear any evidence on the other side.

On the plus side, ever since the dog owner was finally served with multiple "dangerous dog" citations, he has been keeping his remaining dogs locked up. I believe he's required to keep them penned or leashed at all times, and I think muzzles may even be required when they are outside the pen. Violation results in an automatic $1000 fine and possible confiscation of the dogs. So at least my friend has not had to deal with any further problems on that front.
 
#93 ·
Good news! My friend's trial was yesterday and she was found innocent! Woohoo!!

Now that it's over I plan to lodge a complaint with the sheriff about his deputy. She's a real piece of work. She refused to collect evidence or look at the footprints and blood in the fresh snow next to the horse corral that my friend offered to show her. She just took the word of the dog owner that my friend had shot his dogs on his own property without provocation and pressed charges. Fortunately a lot of this, including some lies on the deputy's part, were caught on body cam. It seems like police officers can't be got rid of no matter how bad they are, nor how much proof exists of their guilt, but it never hurts to complain anyway.
 
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