This is just disgusting and I hope this guy rots in
Hell where he deserves to be. This makes me sick to my stomach.
-Posted on Tue, Nov. 05, 2002
Tougher sentences sought for animal-cruelty charges
In Pa. and N.J., these crimes mean little or no jail time now. But some fear minor offenses may get stiffer
penalties, too.
By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Inquirer Suburban Staff
SCHWENKSVILLE - On Oct. 11, after Jerry Hartley's golden retriever urinated on his rug, Hartley took a
thigh-high, black-handled, Civil War sword and ran it through the dog four times, police say: once in his
neck, once in his chest, once in his abdomen, and once in his rear.
The dog survived, but the attack sent Montgomery County prosecutor Todd Stephens scrambling through
the statutes. His mission: Give the judge a bigger book to throw at Hartley. He wanted to find another
charge to tack onto animal cruelty, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence that is almost
always negotiated down to no jail time.
Stephens charged Hartley with criminal possession of a weapon - the sword - which adds the possibility
of five more years in jail.
Animal advocates and some legal theorists around the country are saying that Stephens should not have
had to scramble, particularly in light of research indicating that people who commit crimes against
animals often commit violent crimes against people.
People "who exhibit behavior that's so out-of-bounds are a larger threat to society and shouldn't receive
just a slap on the wrist," says Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United
States.
Animal advocates have campaigned for stiffer penalties for animal cruelty for a decade. In that time, 38
states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have made their penalties tougher.
But sometimes the statutes have not become very much tougher. In 1996, Pennsylvania upgraded animal
cruelty from a second-degree misdemeanor to a first-degree misdemeanor but did not increase the
penalties.
"The judges almost never give any jail time at all, and, when they do, it's 90 days in the county jail - never
any time at the big house," said Eric Hendricks, executive director of the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals in Pennsylvania.
Ann Marie Kaiser, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, says that she
has heard of prosecutors looking for penalties to tack onto animal cruelty. Her association has lobbied for
stiffer penalties, because some cases "go beyond neglect. There's sometimes a clear propensity
towards violence."
In New Jersey, penalties are similar: up to 18 months in jail. Lawyers who act as private prosecutors for
cruelty cases there say those convicted rarely serve jail time.
Nationally, penalties in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania are in the middle of the pack. Alabama and
Louisiana have the nation's toughest laws, up to 10 years in jail, while Hawaii and Mississippi don't
require any jail time.
In Pennsylvania, a person can be charged with felony animal cruelty if he has already been convicted of
animal cruelty in a separate case. Felony animal cruelty can mean up to seven years in jail.
The issue is coming to the fore locally because of several other high-profile cases in the region.
Russell Watson, a 17-year-old Mantua boy who beat a pit bull with a baseball bat, was sentenced in
September to serve time in a juvenile detention center until he turns 21.
In Bucks County, prosecutors describe a case of a man they allege is a serial dog-beater: Each time his
girlfriend bought a dog, he attacked it. They said it happened four times, and three of the dogs died.
Hartley was turned in to police after his wife came home and said she found him trying to staple the
dog's wounds shut. He did not make $25,000 cash bail and is being held at the Montgomery County
Correctional Facility. He has yet to enter a plea.
Farm advocates say that, in some cases, there are good reasons for judges and legislators to be
cautious. Cruelty cases, they say, are frequently very emotional, and giving judges more leeway means it
is more likely that minor offenses will mean serious jail time.
Marel Raub, regulatory affairs director for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, notes a case in which a farmer
was convicted of animal cruelty after shooting a dog that had attacked his animals; five years in jail for
that, Raub says, is simply too stiff.
"These crimes are being interpreted by the courts so that what's considered cruelty or neglect aren't
necessarily these heinous things," Raub said. "We're concerned that the punishment doesn't fit the
crime."
State Rep. Gene DiGirolomo (R., Bucks) introduced a bill last fall to raise the maximum penalty for
animal cruelty from two years to five. The bill passed in the state House but has stalled in the Senate.
DiGirolomo blames opposition from the farm lobby. Raub doesn't disagree. "We've made our feelings
known," she said tersely.
A similar bill introduced last month in New Jersey by Rep. George Geist (R., Camden) is still in the
Assembly's agriculture committee. It would raise the maximum penalty from 18 months in prison to five
years.
Research psychologists say penalties for these crimes are stiffening as a growing body of research links
cruelty to animals to violence against humans.
"We're getting more and more pieces of evidence, which suggest that this is a warning sign," said Frank
Ascione, professor of psychology at Utah State University and author of two books about the issue.
Edward D. Ohlbaum, professor of law at Temple University, says that the vileness of a crime - the degree
to which it offends public sensibilities - is an essential variable that legislatures consider when weighing
criminal penalties.
But those sensibilities can change.
"Maybe we're at a stage now where we're recognizing that an animal isn't property but isn't a human - is
in that in-between category," Ohlbaum said, "and we're reassessing our penalties for crimes against
animals to make them fit that new category."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Benjamin Wallace-Wells at 610-313-8206 or [email protected].
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Huney, Bon & Simba-missed so very much
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