The animal cruelty unit of the Dallas County district attorney’s office said it hasn’t secured a maximum, 10-year sentence on a case it has handled since the unit was formed in 2013.
Take these recent examples:
In 2013, the purported ringleader in the burning death of Justice the dog received five years in prison.
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| Justice the pit bull was purposely set afire and died |
And last year, Robert Prichard, who beat his pit bull with a shovel and then drowned her in a pool, got six and half years behind bars.
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| Mesquite man found guilty of beating his pit bull with shovel, drowning it in backyard pool |
Despite the public outrage that often surrounds animal cruelty cases, experts say it’s difficult to secure the maximum sentence because of limitations in the law and a split public opinion about how seriously to take animal abuse.
Boley, 61, is accused of trapping Buddy, his 2 1/2-month-old Chihuahua, in a kennel on a hot stove, causing burns so severe that the puppy had to be put to sleep. Defense attorney Lisa Fox, who has yet to argue her case, has suggested during cross examination this week that her client loved the dog and did not act with malice.
The case is expected to go to a jury sometime this week.
If convicted, that same jury would decide his punishment for the third-degree felony, which has a range of two to 10 years in prison. Boley might also be eligible for probation under certain circumstances.
Zandra Anderson, a Houston trial lawyer who specializes in animal law, said she believes allegations of animal abuse elicit visceral reactions — and sometimes even death threats — because animals give unconditional love.
“With people, we’re fallible. You’re going to get hurt by the people who love you the most,” she said. “But you won’t find that in dogs.”
Though some people react more strongly to an animal cruelty case than a murder case, she said, “the sentencing has to be consistent with the crime.”
Most severe animal cruelty cases cap punishment at 10 years in prison, while lesser offenders come with a maximum sentence of two years. That’s not enough to satisfy the most avid animal lovers, she said, but it’s too harsh for some people who consider pets as property.
Dallas County prosecutors have cited this divide in public opinion as a challenge in securing hefty punishments.
“There are people who question: Is this really criminal?” said assistant district attorney Carmen White, who supervises the animal cruelty unit.
In one rare case, which was assigned before the animal cruelty unit was created but tried in 2013, a man did received 10 years in prison for picking a cat up by its tail and throwing it out the window during a domestic dispute with his girlfriend.
That case, which had a higher punishment range because of his criminal history, was tried by Stephanie Mitchell, who was a prosecutor at the time. She is now the judge presiding over the Boley case.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Felicia Kerney represented the state in the case against Boley. She spent much of the day questioning Boley’s neighbor Jerrod Foote, who testified that he found Buddy and helped take him to an emergency clinic on Feb. 17, 2014.
Foote said he heard crying and smelled smoke from Boley’s apartment, so he went inside and discovered Buddy trapped in the kennel on a “bright red” stove. He said Boley told him he was punishing the puppy for nipping him while playing.
Buddy, who had severe burns and plastic melted into his fur, seemed to be suffering “more than any animal I’d seen in my entire life,” Foote said.
Foote said he convinced Boley to go to a vet clinic, where surveillance tape shows Boley appearing agitated and upset.
But Foote said Boley was more concerned with medical costs than the puppy’s well-being. He said he visited with Buddy before he died because Boley didn’t want to see him.
“I went back and they had him sedated and he was laying on the table,” Foote said from the witness stand, where he cried and wiped his eyes during testimony. “I said a little prayer and gave him a kiss on the head.”
At one point, as Foote testified that Boley had cooked a meal for him on the stove top two weeks earlier, Boley became agitated.
“Liar!” he called out from the corner of the courtroom, where he sat wearing a blazer, his gray hair flopping forward into his face. He has flinched and shaken his head in disagreement throughout the trial.
The judge cleared the jurors from the courtroom to scold him.
“I cannot have you making the gestures and faces you are making to this jury,” Mitchell said. “Sit there and contain yourself.”
Testimony is scheduled to resume Thursday.
(Dallas Morning News - Dec 2, 2015)
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