Julie McDonough, an organizer with Ohio Voters for Companion Animals, held a one-woman protest Thursday outside the Marion Municipal Court before the final hearing was scheduled to begin.
"I am glad ... that there is some justice, it's just not usually enough in Ohio, in my opinion," McDonough said. Her group is calling for the state legislature to change animal cruelty from a misdemeanor to a felony for first-time offenders.
The first-degree misdemeanor charge was filed Feb. 12 against Eric D. Jones, and Marion County Sheriff's Office Lt. Christy Utley said it came because Jones did not provide medical care after the dog was injured.
Jones was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 177 of which were suspended (meaning he will only sit in a COUNTY jail cell for 3 days -- not even a prison jail cell), a $450 fine that had $300 suspended and payment of court costs. He also is not allowed to own, harbor or provide care for any new companion animal for the next five years as part of his probation requirements, and declined to comment on the case.
If probation sanctions are violated, the suspended portions of the sentence and fine could be reinstated. Marion Law Director Mark Russell said the sentence was appropriate based on the evidence found through investigation by the city police, the sheriff's office and an investigator working for his office.
Russell said this specific case involved animal neglect, which is included under the Ohio Revised Code's general category of prohibitions regarding companion animals.
In January, the dog, originally named Red, was found wandering near Elgin High School with injuries that Marion County Dog Warden Darrin Tolle described as "scars and wounds ... on his face, head and front legs."
The woman who found Red and another woman who took him in initially began calling the dog Clyde, and that was the name McDonough used.
McDonough said Clyde had since been taken in by the Knox County Underdog Society, and many people had offered to take him in permanently. In his report, Tolle said the dog did not recognize the name Clyde at the time but would respond when called Red.
Dani Rose, a representative of the Knox County group, said the dog has been adopted out and has a "new name and a new life" as Clyde. Rose said the family that adopted Clyde did not want to be identified but lives outside Marion County.
During the investigation, Tolle was informed of suspicions by others that the dog, then identified as Red, had been dropped off by someone before it was found but Jones denied any involvement and told Tolle that Red either escaped or was stolen.
Tolle also noted in his report that he found "no evidence of organized dog fighting" in the case and that he believed Red's defensive wounds came from a fight with either a dog or wild animal. Russell also said investigations by his agency, the police and the sheriff's office found no evidence of dog fighting in the case.
Jones told Tolle that Red and another male dog, Brutus, fought each other after a female dog, Daisy, was in heat. Daisy had no signs of fighting or injury, according to Tolle's report, but Brutus had "three or four" additional wounds consistent with teeth marks.
Jones also pleaded no contest to three counts of failure to register an animal in regard to Red, Brutus and Daisy and received an additional $50 fine for each count.
As part of the case's resolution, Jones will give Daisy to the Marion Area Humane Society but can continue to keep Brutus, who he has had for seven years, according to Russell. His probation prevents him from keeping a new animal for the next five years.
(Marion Star - June 16, 2016)
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