As a condition of the plea arrangement on animal cruelty announced March 17, Eric Ranger, 26, must also register with the city Department of Health as an animal abuser. The registration would mean Ranger could not buy or adopt a pet from city shelters, rescue groups or pet stores.
However, Ranger was also granted just a one-year a "conditional discharge", which is ridiculous considering Ranger had been charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal, torturing and injuring an animal, failure to provide sustenance and unlawful possession of marijuana, according to the DA’s office.
Based on those original charges, he was facing up to four years in prison. This means they dropped the aggravated animal cruelty charge from a felony down to a misdemeanor and then dropped the other charges: misdemeanor animal cruelty and possession. That is how someone facing "up to four years in prison" gets just one-year of unsupervised probation.
New York Penal Section 65.05 - Sentence Of Conditional Discharge.
Criteria. (a) Except as otherwise required by section 60.05, the court may impose a sentence of conditional discharge for an offense if the court, having regard to the nature and circumstances of the offense and to the history, character and condition of the defendant, is of the opinion that neither the public interest nor the ends of justice would be served by a sentence of imprisonment and that probation supervision is not appropriate.
So basically the judge decided that, although Eric Ranger had been observed REPEATEDLY beating and abusing this tiny puppy, it would be TOO SEVERE of a punishment for Eric Ranger to make him spend even one single day in a jail cell.
Additionally, the judge determined that it would be TOO MUCH of a burden on Eric Ranger to even have to endure Supervised Probation. After all, it's just a puppy, right?
PUPPY ENDURED AT LEAST SIX WEEKS OF BEATINGS AND NON-STOP ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF ERIC RANGER
Between Nov. 17 and Dec. 23, 2015, Eric Ranger who is also known as “E Bone”, was seen punching, choking and kicking the abused dog by two different eyewitnesses, according to Queens DA Richard A. Brown.
One of the eyewitnesses later heard the dog crying inside the stairwell of Ranger’s home.
Police also obtained a video of Ranger punching and kicking the dog, according to the DA.
In another video, police allegedly watched Ranger carrying the dog up three flights of stairs by his collar which was around the dog’s neck. A police officer also saw Ranger punching the dog to the ground.
Ranger was not apologetic for his actions; instead, he insisted he had a right to "discipline" his dog.
On Dec. 23, the district attorney said, the NYPD carried out a search warrant and found the dog inside a milk crate that had been turned upside down. The crate was held in place by two cases of soda.
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| Witnesses told authorities that a Jamaica man punched, kicked and choked his pit bull-mix puppy outside his 179th Place residence. Photo: Google |
“The defendant had admitted to brutalizing a tiny puppy so much that people who observed the defendant walking the dog in the neighborhood called authorities to report the abuse,” Brown said in a statement. “As a result, the defendant will be banned from possessing any animal in the foreseeable future and the little dog is now safe and protected.”
The puppy was brought to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and received an examination. The ASPCA found that despite the treatment the dog was not injured.. He was subsequently adopted and is doing well with his new family.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, it is difficult to ascertain accurate statistics about the prevalence of animal cruelty in the country, as many acts of cruelty are never reported to authorities.
(Times Ledger - March 26, 2016)
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