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.
And furthermore what's even more ridiculous is the guy is 26 years old!!! Those studies the psychobabbling prosecutor were quoting were on children! If a 26 year old animal abuser hasn't committed violent crimes against humans before, so how is the application of theoretical pop psychology on the development of children even relevant to an adult? Surely you don't believe a 26 year old is a developing child do ya? If he hasn't abused humans by 26 years of age, he ain't going to start now. See how misapplied this pop psychology bullcrap is?
Well yeah it is apples and oranges because dogs are property, nothing more. It's like getting a year and half of hard time for getting angry and breaking a window in my own house.
I pinged you because you once had that quote on society and the way a society treats its most defensless, as in the unborn, animals, etc.
The guys in the joint are going to just love this prime specimen of inbred corpophagic pond scum . As I write this you can bet they ( the cons in the joint ) are drawing straws as to who gets first crack at this dumb a$$.
Well yeah it is apples and oranges because dogs are property, nothing more. It's like getting a year and half of hard time for getting angry and breaking a window in my own house.
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If you really believe that, then I cannot continue this discussion, because I believe a dog's life is worth more than a broken window...that's the type of argument that people used to justify beating their wives and children, too. Pets are more than property, even if you cannot and should not elevate their lives to equal that of humans.
I can't even agree to disagree...I cannot abide your statements.
I discuss overt cruelty and you continue to talk about supper. You can't seem to separate food from torture.
Again, I too grew up on a farm where we raised everything we ate. I still live on this farm. I still eat meat. I still have a menagerie of critters that are my reasons to get up in the morning.. And I still get enraged at unnecessary suffering. That is the way "I" was raised.
Even in simple ole backwoods, Georgia. I was raised to believe that people who got off on animal's pain were to be avoided at all costs. We were raised to believe that was the mark of a twisted soul and some who would probably treat people just as badly.
Even in my bible-thumping, super-pious family, we were raised to believe that God often spoke to use through nature. That animals could teach us things, give us comfort, be a blessing. And yep, I believe that they will meet us in heaven, cuz it wouldn't be heaven if they weren't there.
Again, you seem scared spit-less that someone is going to take your steak away from you! How silly. Get over it. Personally, if I had to choose to never eat meat again, or live in a world where yours is the "Right way to believe" I would just scarf up the Tofu.
We are talking about cruel behaviors, cruel people. And the fact that we CAN control why and how we kill something. Something "I" learned way back in the days when you knew up close and personal the critter that was going to be supper. The evil of intentional cruelty is something you can't comprehend, which is why I said that you are the kind of person I would walk across the room to avoid. Do not post to me again.
As much as I like my two Mutts..that's what they are...mutts. I feed them. Tend to them. Pick up after them, etc.
But when they die? I'll replace them. No biggie. I've had a few dogs over the years. I love my two. But they are dogs. Not people.
I have one Pomeranian that is nearly 11 years of age, has cataracts on his eyes, has few teeth and is going deaf. I'm NOT going to pay thousands to get him all fixed up, so he'll croak it, in a few months. I feed him, water him, keep him warm, and pick up his shite when he can't see to get outside. THAT'S IT. I owe that dog nuthin'. I rescued the git from dog-death-row eight years ago.
Put a chain leashed collar round the scum's neck.
Attach the chain to the bumper of a pick-up truck.
Drive the pick-up maniacally On and Off Road.
Throughout Twenty Nine Palms!
Jack.
Essentially, because said "question" was an idiotic one. Not all questions are created equal, sadly.
I have a well treated dog by the way
Why do I find this possibility a highly dubious one, at best? Hmmm... reason... reason...
Wanting to send someone to the joint for beating a dog is most definitely a 'PETA' type.
Ah! There it is!
Now you go back to comparing apples and oranges yourself. Only humans have rights, so you can't use beating dogs and breaking windows as justification for any actions against humans. I bet any psychologist will tell you that a man with a temper who breaks windows or stick his fist through walls is much more likely to beat his wife, than one who doesn't. So then perhaps breaking a window is a pre-crime worth 18 months in jail too. Hmmm? Keep the psychobabble out of the execution of justice.
I beat my dog for crapping on the rug, and punted his ass outside. I also had to shoot a hound who got into the chickens. Nothing you can do with a dog on a farm once he has the taste for that. How many years will that give me? I'm a Christian man who has never laid a hand on a woman or baby. Think I'm more likely to, before or after, the beating or shooting? Or just maybe I, like many others, know the difference between and animal and a human. There's not a big slippery slope between the LAW versus the man above, and the LAW versus people like me. Granted there's likely a big difference between this man and me, but not enough to keep a crazy PETA anti-humanist leftist happy.
You may well be eager to "grant" such a difference, in your case. That would make one of us.
I love little doggies as much as the next person, but I agree with your assessment. It's getting to the point where people are so passionate about these things that they lose all sense of proportionality. A guy beats a dog to death and all of a sudden nothing short of breaking on the wheel will suffice for punishment. That he should be punished for cruelty isn't in question. The extent of his punishment, however, is legitimate grounds for debate. I think 18 months in prison is excessive. Hell, some people murder human beings and don't get that much. And domestic abusers often get away multiple times with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
That's probably true; but if you look at the case in question, the animal wasn't tortured to death. It was subjected to trauma at the hands of an individual with poor self-control who had flown into a blind rage. The force inflicted wasn't necessarily intended to cause death. If every immature person with poor self-control turned into a serial killer, we wouldn't be able to walk the streets in broad daylight.
Since you missed it the first time, let me be clear...I don't wish to continue talking to you about this. I don't and can't agree with you on this, and frankly, your position is disturbing to me.
Please, don't post to me on this topic again.
Thank you.
I never said what he did was acceptable. I was just contrasting the injustince of it all.
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