"We're here because it's important that people see and care what happens to animals," said Ruth Steinberger, state outreach coordinator for the Oklahoma Alliance for Animals. "Animal abuse is a serious crime, and everyone wants to see justice done here."
Steinberger was joined by 14 other animal-rights supporters Tuesday morning at the initial Creek County District Court appearance of Cody Wayne Hahn, 20, who is charged with three felony counts of animal abuse.
Several witnesses reported seeing a black SUV dragging a dog behind the vehicle along 161st Street on Oct. 16.
At one point, witnesses said, the dog came free of its collar. The SUV stopped, and the driver got out, put the leash back in the SUV and then sped off, they said.
The dog, which now goes by the name of Sammy, survived and has since been adopted.
The Creek County Sheriff's Office found the SUV the next day and questioned Hahn, who denied any knowledge of the incident.
Witnesses picked Hahn from a photo lineup as the man who was driving the SUV, authorities said.
Hahn was on leave from the Army at the time of the abuse. By the time he was charged, he had returned to his station in Korea.
Local authorities notified the Army about his arrest warrants, and Hahn was put under military arrest in Korea and returned to Sapulpa on Dec. 23 to be booked into jail.
He was released on $6,000 bond in a matter of hours.
This case has outraged animal-rights activists across the country. Perhaps most disturbing to them was Hahn's jail booking mug shot, which shows him with a beaming smile.
Steinberger said Tuesday: "We're hoping to get that smile off his face. He's not taking any of this seriously."
Hahn, dressed in Army fatigues, sat behind most of the animal-rights supporters during the hearing and was impassive for most of the proceedings.
His lawyer, Creekmore Wallace, entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, and the judge continued Hahn's bail.
After the hearing, Wallace spoke with the Tulsa World and questioned the witnesses' identification of his client.
He said witnesses saw the driver of the SUV from a "bizarre angle" and from a distance.
Sammy suffered gruesome injuries, but his life was saved by Drs. William Mitchell and Agniellis Feliciano of the Bristow Veterinary Hospital.
Hahn faces more than possible prison time if convicted. He also could be booted from the Army, said Robert Don Gifford, an assistant U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City and an Army major specializing in military criminal law.
Even before Hahn is adjudicated, Gifford said, the military can begin an "administrative discharge" proceeding to remove him from the Army.
That hearing could result in an honorable discharge, a general discharge, or an "other-than-honorable" discharge, he said.
(Tulsa World - Jan 7, 2009)
