Posted on 12/08/2004 12:45:36 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
SKOWHEGAN -- A 26-year-old Fairfield man was sentenced to 18 months behind bars Tuesday for beating a 4-month-old wolf-hybrid puppy to death with his fists.
James Mayhew pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty in Somerset County Superior Court. Superior Court Chief Justice Nancy Mills sentenced Mayhew to five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. Mayhew will be on probation for four years after he is released.
Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney Evert N. Fowle said Tuesday afternoon that his office treats animal cruelty cases seriously because studies show a link between abuse of animals and violence against humans.
"People who would abuse or torture innocent animals are people who would do the same (to humans) under the right circumstances," Fowle said.
It was the second time in less than a week that a prison sentence was handed down for the relatively rare felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty in Fowle's jurisdiction.
In Augusta last week, Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar sentenced a Randolph man to four years behind bars for running over and killing his girlfriend's pregnant cat.
Jabar said the act amounted to domestic abuse because it was an attempt to control his girlfriend. One witness described the man "howling and laughing," before killing the cat.
In the Mayhew case, Fowle said there was no link to domestic violence. The Fairfield man was apparently upset because the puppy urinated in his apartment.
"He beat the dog to death because it urinated inside his residence, but the dog urinated because it was scared to death of him because of past abusive treatment," Fowle said.
Police said the puppy was beaten over a period of two months and died on July 31.
An autopsy concluded the puppy had a broken rib, a severely bruised lung and bruised muscles around the head and ears.
Police said at the time of Mayhew's arrest, a veterinarian who performed the autopsy concluded the puppy either bled to death or suffocated on its own blood.
Mayhew had no other pets or animals at his Mountain Avenue home. He apparently had seen the dog advertised for sale and bought it at eight or six weeks old.
Not believing in the "sanctity" of animal torture = being a "PETA type"...? Please.
Sure are a lot of budding sociopath-types on this thread.
Perhaps. Maybe had he quickly decapitated the puppy, it would have been more humane. But if he did it for fun...well...
I'm not trying to get in a pissing contest. The bigger issue I see is that animal rights whackos love these kinds of cases. It's obvious we have endowed certain groups of animals with more rights and privileges than others and I have little faith in our politicians to make clear distinctions.
I agree with you, but its peculiar however that PETA would be so concerned about this but care less about killing innocent human life.
The point is...the man is being locked up for animal cruelty...not for what he MAY do. What he MAY do might be a factor in the length of his sentence, but it is not what he's getting locked up for. (They do the same thing to habitual, and -especially- violent felons). What he MAY do is a pretty obvious, even without scientific research to back it up. How many kids that were mean to their pets grew up to beat their wives or children?
Really, how many people that grow up homosexual go on to molest children? How many people that beat and torture animals for the sheer fun of it go on to be cruel (and/or murderous) towards other people? Size of population doesn't count when you are talking causation.
Funny how you abandon debate when the facts aren't rolling in your favor. You go from asserting that homosexuals are pedophiles at about the same rate as killers are animal abusers to saying it doesn't matter anyway. Geez louise!
They should deffiitley watch him. But don't put him in the same place people who kill other humans go.
Oh no, instead his rights have been violated. He's received "cruel and unusual" punishment.
Thanks,
I will admit that my stand comes from my heart. My dog means the world to me. The dear dog we lost in april was also a very close companion to both my brother and myself.
Are these dogs people, no... They are animals that felt that joy when we come home from work and greet us. They show the anxity when we go away. They are friends and companions.
Do I think someone should go to jail for cruelty to an animal yes... as in this case a senseless act of violence by a person that could not control themselve. for killing a cow for meat no... (but some here would like you to belive that.
A poster made the comment earlier that the bickering here is above the freepers...well I would like to think that, but I would also like to think that most freepers are above calling other people nuts for belive differently then they do about animals, and life in general.
You can say I crazy, mentally unstable, loony a left liberal etc... those that call the names go ahead and throw them at me...But think do you value and life that little that you differentiate between humans and animals when it comes to the importance of a life ended by sensless violence.
Kent,
Thanks for letting me tag on to you last post for the Rant... I will leave it at that. Flame away all if you must, but remember what you project at other people, can be projecting what you hate most about yourself.
Thanks for the rant space.. now if you will excuse me
I have a little black queensland heeler that I know has been sitting in the front room on a bed for the past hour waiting for us to get home.
Thank you for making my point. Nice talking to you.
Yes I know you accused my brother of being a DUmmie... I can guarentee that is not that case. But then again you seem to think that you have had the corner of what is right and just so who am I to disagree with you.
Some studies show at least half of homosexuals were sexually abused as children, that is below the age of consent. And those are studies that surveyed them, it could well be higher. Some studies have shown 30% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by homosexuals. Considering they are only 1-3% of the population that's astounding. Not liking the results leftist academics decided to redefine pedophile to exclude homosexuals. The point being, I don't trust the agenda of these researchers. And neither should you. So think long and hard on legislating crime based on this crap, whether it be homosexuals or animal abusers. People should be tried and sentenced on the crimes they commit not on crimes they may commit. Last point, animal cruelty as a crime gives animals rights they should not have.
I guess that means I just lost my "Christian Card" - 'cause after giving it some thought....
MAY HE ROT IN HELL, forever....yah, I forgot the forever part.
Thanks for reminding me.
That was coverted me from Donna Reed to Delores Clayborne. >:>(TIC) It wasn't that he wanted to keep me, but it was his irrational jealously for anyone or anything that got my attention and affection. Everything from mysterious disappearances, to whole litters of kittens suddenly dead to starving dogs he swore he was feeding....maybe is why I am so fiercely protective now.
Oh....THAT was pithy! Very good!
Watch them real closely. Don't let them near animals again. Monitor closely their interactions with other children. Acknowledge that they my end up institutionalized forever. (if not in prison first). BTW, That same child started a fire UNDER the house where is stepmother was sleeping. Bluntly, he was another Dahmer or Bundy in the making.
None of us said you were. However, you are not someone I think should have pets, or really tend to animals in any way shape or form. You are not someone I would invite into my home, want as a friend or want around anyone or anything I cared for.
I wouldn't wanna break a nail slappin' you silly or ruin good shoes kickin' yer butt to the curb when you started tellin' me that my critters were nutin' but property ;)
This situation occurs frequently in abusive relationships: the man threatens harm to the woman's pet in order to control her behavior. There are even cases where women refuse to leave abusive relationships because they fear for their pet or because they can't take the pet with them, can't provide for the pet.
Monitor them closely. A certain percentage of them, regrettably, will grow up later to gas online, interminably, as to how it's actually "conservative" and "okay" to torture and kill small animals.
I try to avoid news items which highlight cruelty, Bella_.
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