Cat Killer Goes To Prison

[Dr. Shane]

This is scary

Man gets 2 years in prison for killing cat

Quote:

A Los Angeles man who killed his girlfriend's cat, telling her to "follow the blood trail to find Tweety," has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Blood was found in the girlfriend's apartment but Tweety was never found.

Scott Allen Atkinson pleaded no contest to two felony charges of animal cruelty and threatening the woman's life. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Prosecutors say the 46-year-old Atkinson killed the black-and-white cat after an argument in October, then he told the woman's daughter he was going to kill her mother.

[carolaa]

Why do you say it's scary?

[ChildofChrist]

I think that Shane found it scary because the man took a life and it could have as easily been the girlfriend or her mother. The woman must have been in a panic to find all that blood. (Little goes a long way.)

Prison is a good place for such a violent person...but then, that is my opinion.

[Dr. Shane]

How sick is it for a person to tell a child they are going to kill their mother!? And then kill their cat?

We had a guy where I live that was dumped by his girlfrind so he returned to her apartment, kidnapped her little girl, raped her and killed her. He got the death penalty but that didn't bring the little girl back.

[aldona]

I have heard many psychologists say that animal cruelty is often a precursor of similar acts against humans.

Many serial killers and mass murderers started out by killing or torturing animals.

I don't know what US law is like, but here in Australia a person can be charged with "aggravated cruelty to animals", just like "aggravated assault" or "aggravated rape" etc. The penalty is more severe and I do recall some particularly nasty cases that earned their perpetrators similar prison terms (2-3 years).

Aldona

[Amelia]

Quote:

Animal Cruelty Laws State By State

Every state in the United States and the District of Columbia has a law prohibiting cruelty to animals. These laws do not give animals rights, but do afford some legal protection. The purposes of these laws is to deter violence by humans in any form as well as to protect animals from mistreatment and cruelty by imposing a penalty for those acts. Most of these laws fall under the purpose of morality, meaning the purpose is not to protect the animals, but to keep people on the straight and narrow. Whatever the reason, many more states are recognizing that animal cruelty, neglect and abuse are serious issues. There are now 41 states plus the District of Columbia with felony provisions for animal cruelty (32 plus DC with “Felony” specifically stated in the statute, 8 with felony punishments attached, but the status of the crime is not specifically defined).

http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/cruelty_laws.html

Here is Oregon for an example

Quote:

Oregon

http://landru.leg.state.or.us/ors/167.html (Scroll about 1/2 way down the page for “Offenses Against Animals”)

OR Rev. Stat. 167.310 et seq (scroll down quite a ways to find the correct statute)

Oregon has quite comprehensive and specific laws regarding animal abuse.

Animal abuse in the second degree is defined as: “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes physical injury to an animal.” This is a Class B Misdemeanor with a fine up to $2000 and/or imprisonment up to 6 months. Exemptions are made for good animal husbandry.

Animal abuse in the first degree is defined as: “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly: causes serious physical injury to an animal; or cruelly causes the death of an animal.” This is a Class A Misdemeanor with a fine up to $5000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year. However, animal abuse in the first degree is a Class C Felony with a fine up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment up to 5 years IF the person has been convicted of two or more of the following: Assault in the first, second, third or fourth degree if the case involved domestic violence or was committed against a minor child; if the animal abuse was knowingly committed in the presence (was seen or directly perceived) of a minor child or has previous convictions of animal abuse in the first degree or aggravated animal abuse in the first degree.

Aggravated animal abuse in the first degree is defined as: “Maliciously kills an animal; or intentionally or knowingly tortures an animal.” This is a Class C Felony, with a fine up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment up to 5 years.

Animal neglect in the second degree is defined as: “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence fails to provide minimum care for an animal in such person’s custody or control.” This is a Class B Misdemeanor with a fine up to $2000 and/or imprisonment up to 6 months.

Animal neglect in the first degree is defined as: “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence fails to provide minimum care for an animal in the person’s custody or control and the failure to provide care results in serious physical injury or death to the animal.” This is a Class A Misdemeanor with a fine up to$5000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year.

In addition to the above penalties, any person convicted of a misdemeanor in animal cruelty or neglect is prohibited from possessing a domestic animal for a period of 5 years following the conviction. Any person convicted of a felony in animal abuse may not possess a domestic animal for a period of 15 years following the conviction. Other sentencing provisions include animal cruelty prevention programs, cost of care to the animal, and psychological counseling.

[carolaa]

I think that Shane found it scary because the man took a life and it could have as easily been the girlfriend or her mother. The woman must have been in a panic to find all that blood. (Little goes a long way.)

Prison is a good place for such a violent person...but then, that is my opinion.

OK. I was wondering, because I've heard people complain about how sometimes people get more jail time for killing an animal than for killing a human. But Aldona's right about animal cruelty leading to murder.

I heard on the radio a while back that one reason for making the laws stronger against cruelty to animals is because most of the domestic shelters do not allow animals, so in order for a woman to leave an abuser, she often has to make the decision to leave behind the one thing that truly loved her - her pet, knowing her abuser will probably kill it in a gruesome manner. So most of them will stay in the abuse rather than abandon their only source of love. Really sad. They said they were working on getting more shelters to accept animals.