A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Ashby Nickell Boulware II, 41, on three counts of first-degree animal cruelty. The indictments were issued in December but made public this week.
Mountain Brook police Lt. Chuck Clark said officers were called to a home in the 3300 block of North Woodridge Road on Nov. 18, 2014 on a report of three dead dogs. When officers arrived on the scene, there was a woman yelling for Boulware to come outside and tell officers what he did, Clark said.
"He said he killed three dogs because God told him to do so,'' Clark said. Officers then went into the backyard and found the three slain Labrador Retrievers.
Boulware was taken into custody and, after being read his rights, confessed to the crimes, Clark said. A veterinary pathologist performed the necropsies and said the findings were consistent with Boulware's statement that he choked the dogs to death with a leash.
Mountain Brook police in May of 2015 obtained the aggravated cruelty to animal warrants against Boulware. He was jailed in Mountain Brook and then the Jefferson County Jail. County jail records show he was booked in on May 9, 2015 and released the same day after posting $15,000 bond.
Below, Scott Fuqua bends over backwards to try to use the media to get public sympathy for Boulware and for the public to forget all about the poor, innocent dogs he choked and strangled to death -- one by one.
"While the facts of this case are very upsetting, Ashby is not a person who would ever intentionally hurt an animal," said Scott Fuqua of the Jefferson County Public Defender's Office. "In 2008, Ashby received an award from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society for rescuing three dogs from a burning apartment building in Vestavia and has also fostered dogs from local shelters."
According to his defense attorney, in 2013 Boulware suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident which has led to significant psychological symptoms. "As the Mountain Brook Police Department alluded to in their public statements, Ashby is presently under medical supervision,'' said Fuqua. "A clinical psychologist determined that Ashby was in a psychotic delusional state on the night of this incident. Ashby agreed to be committed for intensive in-patient psychological treatment followed by ongoing medical supervision."
"As someone who loves animals, Ashby understands the public outrage over this incident,'' Fuqua said. "While this has been a very difficult time for his family, Ashby hopes that the attention this article has received will shed light on the impact of traumatic brain injuries and the tragic consequences that psychological illness can have on families."
(AL.com - March 5, 2016)
Just because you have a mental illness doesnt mean you're not accountable for your actions. If he has a permanent brain injury that altered his behavior and personality, then what he did before that does not matter.
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