Koi killers net probation Pair also fined, sentenced to 500 hours of community service

Santa Cruz Sentinal ^ | 4/17/04 | By CATHY REDFERN

[mylife]

Former UC Santa Cruz Delta Omega Chi fraternity member Casey Loop is recorded on an MTV video exulting as he holds up Midas the koi after taking it from the Porter College pond on May 20, 2003.

Both were ordered to serve at an animal shelter, a program counseling youth about alcohol and at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, a Japanese garden where they can experience "the spiritual aspects of maintaining koi ponds," Judge Jeff Almquist said.

[Skywalk]

Yes it's only a fish, but there's way more to it than that and these guys knew that--drunk or not.

Maybe a caning would have done these guys good. Now they'll get to roll their eyes during their "counseling."

[South40]

Fish are your friends not food!

Or, so say the fine folks at PETA.

[cavtrooper21]

I bet mommy and daddy are REAL proud of their little darlings.
The whole thing is just sick.

[dalereed]

Anyone dumb enoiugh to eat a carp, especially a mutated one deserves what they get!

[claudiustg]

Life at UCSC will be very difficult for this young man.

[martin_fierro]

Both were ordered to serve at an animal shelter, a program counseling youth about alcohol and at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga

I regularly ride my motorcycle past there.

I should drop by sometime to see what true pinheads look like.

[Hank Kerchief]

Yes it's only a fish, but there's way more to it than that ...

WHAT?

[Welsh Rabbit]

The courtroom was full as the disreputable deed was shown on film, courtesy of MTV, which had been shooting the now-banned Omega Delta Chi fraternity for a reality show.

Almquist said it was a shame reality shows have such a low standard for what they put on television and said he hoped the district attorney had considered prosecuting MTV for providing the cameras and vehicles. He noted that alcohol often provides fuel for criminal cases.

I wonder if MTV provided free alcohol, like they have for their other reality shows. These two have only themselves to blame, but this is another example of how degenerate and morally bankrupt MTV is. Certainly doesn't sound like they were discouraging the act at the time.

[Skywalk]

If someone came in and killed your pet(and koi are more responsive to people than other types of fish) I doubt you'd be saying "its only a ___"

Property issues, respect issues, trespass.

Being a drunken idiot can lead to someone being a drunken idiot in other ways also.

These were not guys who drank a bit too much on the fishing boat and filmed it.

Personally, when my rabbit was still alive, if I caught anybody in the act of harming her, I'd have ended it swiftly and violently, but maybe that's just me.

The justice system doesn't work that way, thankfully, but drunken idiots who have no respect for anyone else should probably get a good caning.

[glock rocks]

[tiamat]

Those fish are really expensive, too!

[Lady Heron]

LOL! TVA at one point ran a program to try and get the people of Tennessee to eat the carp that were taking over the lakes in Tennessee. Lets just say it was a big failure. My dad still talks about the recipe for carp burgers.

[Hank Kerchief]

If someone came in and killed your pet ...

Whose pet was it?

koi are more responsive to people than other types of fish ...

Sure! But what about sharks, they're pretty responsive to people? They eat people. I say, turnabout is fair play.

[Welsh Rabbit]

Lets just say it was a big failure.

LOL! I wonder why...

[Sabatier]

If someone came in and killed your pet(and koi are more responsive to people than other types of fish) I doubt you'd be saying "its only a ___" Property issues, respect issues, trespass. Being a drunken idiot can lead to someone being a drunken idiot in other ways also. These were not guys who drank a bit too much on the fishing boat and filmed it. Personally, when my rabbit was still alive, if I caught anybody in the act of harming her, I'd have ended it swiftly and violently, but maybe that's just me. The justice system doesn't work that way, thankfully, but drunken idiots who have no respect for anyone else should probably get a good caning.

I completely agree. Torturing animals is one of the signs of sociopath tendencies. These creeps got off easy.

[BlazingArizona]

No, frat boys, carpe diem does not mean "goldfish served today"!

[Truth29]

This will probably be another failure of the justice system. The perps are full of resentment and have not learned respect for the law and property. They will be back before a judge again, for more serious crimes IMO.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It's way past time that our legal system instituted a principle that no impairment from self-administered recreational drugs will be considered in determining guilt or in sentencing. I get really sick of all the "but he didn't really mean to do it, he was just drunk" verdicts. Brutal murders dropped to "involuntary manslaughter", vandalism, domestic violence, animal abuse, all given preposterously light sentences; fires that burn down homes and even kill people, deemed "accidents" because the person who started them was drunk. The harm to the victims is just as bad, regardless of whether the perp was drunk or otherwise chemically impaired.

[Thud]

Many of the students at Porter College, where the pond for this koi was, considered it to be a pet of sorts. They walked by the pond daily and the fish was quite evident. Some were proud of it while others compared it to some of the faculty.