Hawaii: Christian Gutierrez given 45-days in jail for torturing albatross birds to death by breaking their bones, chopping off their feet, kicking them, stomping them, and beating them to death with a baseball bat.

HAWAII -- A man accused of killing federally protected Laysan albatross birds on Oahu has been sentenced.

On March 16, NYU college student Christian Gutierrez pleaded no contest to amended charges of third-degree theft, prohibited activities, prohibited activities in a natural area reserve, fourth-degree criminal property damage, and second-degree cruelty to animals.

Despite torturing and killing dozens of birds, Gutierrez and the other monsters were only charged with one count of 2nd-degree animal cruelty.

On Thursday, July 6, a judge sentenced the Punahou School graduate to 45 days in jail and a year of probation. He will also have to serve 200 hours of community service and pay restitution.

 

The vulnerable Kaena albatrosses apparently were easy targets for the killers, who allegedly bashed the birds with a baseball bat, slashed some their bodies and chopped off their wings and legs with a machete and shot others with a pellet gun.

“The nature and circumstances of the crimes that you pled to shock the conscience. The killing of these defenseless and protected birds was inexcusable,” said Circuit Court Judge Jeannette Castagnetti.

Gutierrez spoke before a packed courtroom, and apologized for his actions:

“I’ve been listening to what people have been saying about this case, and about my character, and about what’s happened since the beginning, and also here today in this courtroom. The people have every right to be angry and disgusted with my behavior, as I am disgusted with my own behavior. I wish I had the courage not to go along, but I did and I will forever have that memory.

“Ms. Young, Ms. Case, Ms. Zoll, and Mr. Aila, I am sorry for the impact that my actions have caused you and the community. Ms. (Lindsay Young, executive director, Pacific Rim Conservation Group), seven months ago in the hallway of this courtroom, you said to me you should be ashamed of yourself, and you’re right. I am ashamed of myself.”

If he were really remorseful he wouldn't have dragged this out for more than a year "fighting to get a deferred sentence" which would have wiped his record clean after the probation and blocked the police reports as if he had never tortured these poor animals to death. He's not sorry. If he were, he would have manned up, plead guilty at the onset and issued his apology then.

Gutierrez was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing. While being handcuffed, he uttered yet another apology: “I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad. I’m sorry.”

 

His attorney, Myles Breiner, says he’s disappointed with the outcome.

He had been fighting to get the charges deferred, meaning if Gutierrez stayed out of trouble, the charges would eventually be wiped from his record. But the judge denied that request.

“We thought that he deserved a deferral,” Breiner said. “We’re disappointed that the court gave him any jail at all. Hopefully when he gets out, he’ll be able to resume his studies in New York.”

His parents clearly have a lot of money. They live in Hawaii and yet they're able to send their kid all the way to NYC to go to school at NYU and have him fly home for breaks? None of that is affordable to 75% of Americans. 

New York University Undergraduate Student Cost Per Year
Data shown for 2014-2015 school year.
Tuition & Fees Out-of-State: $46,170
Room and Board: $16,782
Books & Supplies: $1,070
Other Expenses: $2,000
Total In-State: $66,022

Headline should be "Spoiled rich kid tortures and kills animals for his amusement knowing Mommy and Daddy will bail him out"

 

Gutierrez will have to report to a probation officer once he’s released from jail.

In December 2015, officials found at least 15 nests in Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve were destroyed with either smashed, dead, or missing eggs. At least 32 adults and eggs were killed, officials said, and there was evidence that several birds had their feet cut off.

Seabird monitoring cameras and sound equipment were also missing with a replacement value of $3,100, officials said.

KILLERS BRAGGED ABOUT THEIR CRIMES

According to civilbeat.org, all the details I have about the alleged albatross killers came indirectly from the suspects themselves who, at a party shortly after the Kaena incident, bragged to their peers about what they had done to the birds. Their boasting included showing the metal identification tags obtained by cutting off the albatrosses’ feet.

Some of their peers were stunned and told their parents. The word got out to Punahou School and others.

Oblivious to the reaction of their classmates, the suspects continued to show off the metal tags and even post pictures of the dead birds on their social media sites until eventually taking down the incriminating information.

What makes the alleged crime particularly horrific is nesting albatrosses are harmless, trusting creatures that are unafraid of human beings. By their nature, the birds stay close to their eggs and chicks no matter what’s happening around their nests.

A year later, Gutierrez turned himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

 

 

“If you approach an animal that is not going to try to escape because it is guarding its eggs, and you not only smash its egg, but rip it apart while alive and then save an ID band as a souvenir, one you had to get by dismembering a limb, for entertainment, and you do it more than a dozen times, you have no conscience,” Executive Director of Pacific Rim Conservation Lindsay Young said. 

He initially pleaded not guilty to multiple counts, including theft, entering a prohibited area, prohibited activities in a nature reserve, fourth-degree criminal property damage, and 14 counts of animal cruelty, before reaching a deal with prosecutors.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources says the sentencing sends a strong message that crimes like this aren’t taken lightly.

“Everyone wants to be clear that we cannot tolerate this type of behavior. It’s brutal. It’s heinous, and we need to protect our wildlife,” said DLNR chair Suzanne Case. “It’s hard to put a dollar figure on that. We obviously spent hundreds of thousands of dollars creating this protected area and protected from invasive predators, and unfortunately, not protected from man.”

DLNR estimates the long-term effects of the killings resulted in about 320 albatross lost.

Breiner previously told us Gutierrez was not the ring leader, and other individuals — who were juveniles — were involved.

We asked Breiner what’s next for the other boys involved in the case, but he says he can’t comment because those cases are in juvenile court.

THE ALBATROSS IN FOLKLORE

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" tells us that the albatross is a powerful symbol of good luck — and that it can bring terrible misfortune or “bachi” to kill one.

In the poem, a sailor brings to an abrupt end the good sailing conditions his ship has been experiencing when for no reason he fires an arrow from his crossbow to kill a friendly albatross that had taken to following behind the ship.

After the bird’s death, the ship is cursed with life-threatening storms. The furious crew members punish the albatross killer by tying the dead albatross on a rope dangling from his neck.

In the poem, the sailor says: “Ah! well a-day that evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” -- Civilbeat.org

VIDEO NEWS CLIP:

(KHON - July 6, 2017)

Earlier:

• Hawaii: Investigation focuses on teenaged boys after Albatross nests destroyed and several birds and their babies were beaten, stabbed and tortured to death
• Hawaii: NYU student Christian Gutierrez, 19, accused of torturing albatross birds to death by beating them with a baseball bat, stabbing them with a machete, destroying their nests and cutting off their legs. Posted photos online and bragged of his crime, say authorities
• Hawaii: Christian Gutierrez pleads no contest to animal cruelty and theft after torture deaths of albatross birds

Hawaii: Christian Gutierrez pleads no contest to animal cruelty and theft after torture deaths of albatross birds

HAWAII -- An NYU student has further endangered a number of already in danger albatrosses.

In court on Thursday, Tisch sophomore Christian Gutierrez pleaded no contest to five charges — including animal cruelty and theft — after a dozen albatrosses were BEATEN, TORTURED AND SLAUGHTERED in a Hawaii nature reserve.

 

The vulnerable Kaena albatrosses apparently were easy targets for the killers, who allegedly bashed the birds with a baseball bat, slashed some their bodies with a machete and shot others with a pellet gun.


Bloody feathers lay in piles where the missing birds had been nesting, indicating they met gruesome and cruel deaths. The ruined nests and dead adults were located in widely scattered locations over several acres in the reserve, indicating the perpetrators spent some time killing birds and dismembering their bodies.

Investigations at the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve by the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources began in December 2015, when Executive Director of Pacific Rim Conservation Lindsay Young said that the group received an email from a friend with pictures of the dead birds in positions that were not a result of natural mortality.

“It was clearly intentionally caused by humans and not caused by predators or other natural events,” Young said. “The photographs released of the severed feet show clean cut marks indicating some kind of knife was used to cut them off.”

According to a nest inventory of the reserve, trespassers had significantly damaged the species and habitat of the Laysan albatross — a federally protected species.

The inventory reported that there were 12 missing adult albatrosses, a number of smashed, missing or dead eggs and 15 destroyed nests out of the 45 documented nests at Kaena Point.

 

Gutierrez is one of three classmates from a Honolulu prep school charged for this incident. His statement filed in court said that he was camping in Kaena Point with others when they entered a prohibited area, and the trio participated in illegal activities that resulted in the death of numerous albatross birds and eggs and the destruction of equipment owned by the Pacific Rim Conservation Organization.

Gutierrez originally pleaded not guilty in December after being charged with 19 criminal counts but accepted a plea deal on Thursday, which — in exchange for the prosecution dismissing his 14 remaining counts — will require him to testify against others who may be involved.

Gutierrez’s attorney said that pleading no contest protects his client from the threat of collateral civil action — simply put, the defendant must show liability to avoid being involved in a civil settlement.

Spokesman for the Honolulu prosecuting attorney’s office Chuck Parker told Washington Square News that this result affirms the defendant’s help in gathering evidence.

“Essentially the plea deal was agreed to to get Gutierrez’s cooperation for a testimony against others who may be involved in the case,” Parker said. “We agreed to him pleading no contest to fewer charges than he was originally charged with, but he has to cooperate with us and provide evidence against others who may be involved.”

During his hearing on Thursday, Gutierrez requested a deferral of his no contest plea from the court. Gutierrez’s defense attorney Myles Breiner said that if the court accepts the deferral in June when he is sentenced, Gutierrez will be free to seek an expungement of his record.

If deferral is awarded by the court, Breiner said that Gutierrez must adhere to numerous conditions outlined by the court in what he called a potentially arduous process similar to probation, but Breiner said there is no guarantee that the court will accept his request.

“For certain offenses you have a one-time opportunity to have it erased from your record, provided you do whatever needs to be done in terms of probation,” Breiner said. “It is a type of sentencing and if the court grants the motion for deferral, effectively Mr. Gutierrez has no conviction.”

Breiner said that Gutierrez is a candidate for deferral of no contest, because he is a first-time offender with a clean record.

Parker said that because the other two involved in this case are juveniles, they will be tried in family court and their information cannot be released.
According to Breiner, the prosecution recognized that Gutierrez was not the ringleader of this incident. Yet, because he was the only offender to be tried as an adult, he has received the majority of the social media backlash.

“He has become the poster boy for this type of crime, which is considered by many people to be a heinous crime,” Breiner said. “[The public is] willing to place Mr. Gutierrez front and center as the image of violence toward protected species, and that is very troubling to me.”

Breiner said that Gutierrez attached a written statement to the plea agreement accepting responsibility and apologizing for the death and destruction of the habitat. Breiner also said that Gutierrez has promised to repay and provide restitution to the Pacific Rim Conservation Group proportionate to the stolen and damaged equipment and the fines — he also said that Gutierrez is in the process of making a public safety announcement video supporting the efforts of this organization.

As far as disciplinary action, NYU spokesperson John Beckman said that the university is prohibited by federal law from discussing what action may be taken in reference to a certain student.

“I will say that the incident as described is shocking, disgraceful and senseless,” Beckman said.

Young said that although repairing the equipment damage has been relatively straightforward for Pacific Rim Conservation, she also said that assessing the damage done to 14 years of research and data has been complicated. And Young said that from a scientific standpoint, the damage done to this site has ruined one of the best long-term datasets on albatrosses anywhere in the world. As a result, she believes that the plea deal does not come close to approximating justice.

“If you approach an animal that is not going to try to escape because it is guarding its eggs, and you not only smash its egg, but rip it apart while alive and then save an ID band as a souvenir, one you had to get by dismembering a limb, for entertainment, and you do it more than a dozen times, you have no conscience,” Young said. 

“Being charged with misdemeanor theft and only one count of animal cruelty — when dozens were killed and tortured — is just appalling.”

(NYU News - March 20, 2017)

Earlier:

• Hawaii: Investigation focuses on teenaged boys after Albatross nests destroyed and several birds and their babies were beaten, stabbed and tortured to death
• Hawaii: NYU student Christian Gutierrez, 19, accused of torturing albatross birds to death by beating them with a baseball bat, stabbing them with a machete, destroying their nests and cutting off their legs. Posted photos online and bragged of his crime, say authorities

Hawaii: NYU student Christian Gutierrez, 19, accused of torturing albatross birds to death by beating them with a baseball bat, stabbing them with a machete, destroying their nests and cutting off their legs. Posted photos online and bragged of his crime, say authorities

HAWAII -- The investigation into the killings of more than a dozen Laysan albatross last year at Kaena Point has netted charges against two more people.

But the two are being prosecuted in Family Court in Kapolei because they were minors when they allegedly committed the crimes.

 

A third person, 19-year-old Christian Gutierrez, who is a college student at New York University, was indicted by a grand jury last week on 14 counts of animal cruelty. He was also indicted on theft and criminal property damage charges.

TOOK PHOTOS AND BRAGGED OF THEIR HORRIFIC CRIMES

According to civilbeat.org, all the details about the alleged albatross killers came indirectly from the suspects themselves who, at a party shortly after the Kaena incident, bragged to their peers about what they had done to the birds. Their boasting included showing the metal identification tags obtained by cutting off the albatrosses’ feet.

 

Some of their peers were stunned and told their parents. The word got out to Punahou School and others.

Oblivious to the reaction of their classmates, the suspects continued to show off the metal tags and even post pictures of the dead birds on their social media sites until eventually taking down the incriminating information.

What makes the alleged crime particularly horrific is nesting albatrosses are harmless, trusting creatures that are unafraid of human beings. By their nature, the birds stay close to their eggs and chicks no matter what’s happening around their nests.

They are big creatures. Up to 3 feet tall — the size of a human toddler — and can weigh up to 10 pounds. They can live more than 65 years.

The vulnerable Kaena albatrosses apparently were easy targets for the killers, who allegedly bashed the birds with a baseball bat, slashed some their bodies with a machete and shot others with a pellet gun.

Maunawili resident Kimo Smith was hiking with a friend at Kaena Point that morning when he found a dead albatross lying beside its egg, as well as a partially buried dead albatross and an abandoned albatross nest with a smashed egg.

Smith said his hiking companion was so upset she began crying.

He informed Young and VanderWerf, who went to the sanctuary to discover the body parts or entire bodies of four adult nesting albatrosses. Some of the birds were mutilated by having their feet cut off.

The additional 13 birds were never found. It is believed after the suspects killed them, they cut off their feet to remove their identification tags before they tossed their carcasses into the ocean.

In addition to the dead and missing birds, the suspects allegedly stole $3,100 worth of bird monitoring equipment and destroyed 17 albatross nests and smashed 17 albatross eggs.

Bloody feathers lay in piles where the missing birds had been nesting, indicating they met gruesome and cruel deaths. The ruined nests and dead adults were located in widely scattered locations over several acres in the reserve, indicating the perpetrators spent some time killing birds and dismembering their bodies.

The incident shocked animal rights advocates.

"I can not think of a human being who would be willing to do something so horrific to an animal," said Cathy Goeggel, president of Animal Rights Hawaii.

Added Keith Dane, Hawaii policy adviser for the Humane Society of the United States: "This is a heinous crime against wildlife. We are calling for full penalties as provided by the law."

All three were part of a group of current and former Punahou School students who, as part of a class field trip, stayed overnight at the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve last December.

"I'm glad something is happening but it should not take this long and they really should be charged with federal offenses," said Goeggel.

Hawaii News Now has learned that investigators had enough evidence to bring charges back in March.

The prosecutor initially assigned to the case was Katherine Kealoha, who's been under federal investigation.

Katherine Kealoha

Sources said the case stalled for several months partly because the FBI began asking questions about her cases. They said investigators wanted to know whether Kealoha was showing favoritism to some defendants on this and all other investigations she was involved with.

In the end, sources said no favoritism was found and the case was later transferred to another prosecutor.

Gutierrez was released after posting $25,000 bail. He's due in court next Tuesday.

THE ALBATROSS IN FOLKLORE

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" tells us that the albatross is a powerful symbol of good luck — and that it can bring terrible misfortune or “bachi” to kill one.

In the poem, a sailor brings to an abrupt end the good sailing conditions his ship has been experiencing when for no reason he fires an arrow from his crossbow to kill a friendly albatross that had taken to following behind the ship.

After the bird’s death, the ship is cursed with life-threatening storms. The furious crew members punish the albatross killer by tying the dead albatross on a rope dangling from his neck.

In the poem, the sailor says: “Ah! well a-day that evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” -- Civilbeat.org

(HawaiiNewsNow - Dec 21, 2016)

Earlier:

• Hawaii: Investigation focuses on teenaged boys after Albatross nests destroyed and several birds and their babies were beaten, stabbed and tortured to death

Hawaii: Investigation focuses on teenaged boys after Albatross nests destroyed and several birds and their babies were beaten, stabbed and tortured to death

HAWAII -- The deaths of at least three albatrosses and the destruction of 15 nests at Kaena Point last month may have been caused by teenagers.

Hawaii News Now has learned that state law enforcement officials want to question four students, several who attend Punahou School.

"I have no clue what the mindset of a person who would do something like this. It's just horrible for the environment, nature and Kaena Point itself," said Hawaiian monk seal advocate Kimo Smith, who discovered the dead birds two weeks ago.

About a dozen birds, whose nests were smashed, have not returned to the wildlife reserve and are also feared dead.

"It is a significant impact when you consider the number of birds together at this natural area preserve. It is important that we not lose any," said environmental activist Carroll Cox.

KILLERS BRAGGED ABOUT THEIR CRIMES

According to civilbeat.org, all the details I have about the alleged albatross killers came indirectly from the suspects themselves who, at a party shortly after the Kaena incident, bragged to their peers about what they had done to the birds. Their boasting included showing the metal identification tags obtained by cutting off the albatrosses’ feet.

Some of their peers were stunned and told their parents. The word got out to Punahou School and others.

Oblivious to the reaction of their classmates, the suspects continued to show off the metal tags and even post pictures of the dead birds on their social media sites until eventually taking down the incriminating information.

What makes the alleged crime particularly horrific is nesting albatrosses are harmless, trusting creatures that are unafraid of human beings. By their nature, the birds stay close to their eggs and chicks no matter what’s happening around their nests.

They are big creatures. Up to 3 feet tall — the size of a human toddler — and can weigh up to 10 pounds. They can live more than 65 years.

The vulnerable Kaena albatrosses apparently were easy targets for the killers, who allegedly bashed the birds with a baseball bat, slashed some their bodies with a machete and shot others with a pellet gun.

Maunawili resident Kimo Smith was hiking with a friend at Kaena Point that morning when he found a dead albatross lying beside its egg, as well as a partially buried dead albatross and an abandoned albatross nest with a smashed egg.

Smith said his hiking companion was so upset she began crying.

He informed Young and VanderWerf, who went to the sanctuary to discover the body parts or entire bodies of four adult nesting albatrosses. Some of the birds were mutilated by having their feet cut off.

The additional 13 birds were never found. It is believed after the suspects killed them, they cut off their feet to remove their identification tags before they tossed their carcasses into the ocean.

In addition to the dead and missing birds, the suspects allegedly stole $3,100 worth of bird monitoring equipment and destroyed 17 albatross nests and smashed 17 albatross eggs.

Bloody feathers lay in piles where the missing birds had been nesting, indicating they met gruesome and cruel deaths. The ruined nests and dead adults were located in widely scattered locations over several acres in the reserve, indicating the perpetrators spent some time killing birds and dismembering their bodies.

The incident shocked animal rights advocates.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources declined comment, citing its pending investigation. That minors may be involved could complicate matters legally, but animal rights activists say the DLNR should pursue stiff penalties.

"Criminologists, psychologists, psychiatrists have long recognized a connections between animal cruelty and all other manner of crimes, even human violence," said Inga Gibson of the Humane Society of the United States.

Albatrosses are migratory birds that are protected by state and federal laws, which includes penalties of prison time, and thousands of dollars in fines.

Punahou School offered the following statement:

We were dismayed by the senseless destruction of albatross nests in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve. This important nesting area and the surrounding reserve are wonderful educational resources for students in Hawaii.

It is disturbing to hear that teenagers with ties to Punahou, possibly including one current student, may have been involved in this incident. This deplorable act contradicts the values of the School, and the respect of our community and the environment that we promote.

The school is fully cooperating with the various agency investigations as they gather the facts about who was actually involved.

(HawaiiNewsNow - Jan 13, 2016)

Updates:

• Hawaii: NYU student Christian Gutierrez, 19, accused of torturing albatross birds to death by beating them with a baseball bat, stabbing them with a machete, destroying their nests and cutting off their legs. Posted photos online and bragged of his crime, say authorities
• Hawaii: Christian Gutierrez pleads no contest to animal cruelty and theft after torture deaths of albatross birds