Posted on 09/21/2006 7:09:47 AM PDT by newgeezer
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- A [St. Louis] Metro East man was ordered to spend two years in prison after admitting in court that he tore the head off a kitten in the wake of a fight with his live-in girlfriend.
When it comes to animal abuse cases, "we don't get prison sentences all the time, so it's always good when we do," Stephanee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Madison County State's Attorney's Office, said Tuesday of the case against Jacob Thornton.
Thornton, 21, of Bethalto[, Illinois], was to have had a preliminary hearing last Thursday on the felony animal torture charge but instead pleaded guilty, Smith said.
A judge ordered Thornton's sentence to run concurrently to a prison term related to a parole violation.
Authorities say that after a July 28 dispute between Thornton and his 30-year-old live-in girlfriend, the woman left the home before returning to find her kitten's head and detached body in the front yard.
At the time, Thornton was out on parole on a 2005 aggravated battery conviction.
Four days after he was charged with animal torture, he also was charged with burglarizing a motor vehicle. That case is pending.
Thornton's criminal background, dating to 2002, includes convictions of burglary, attempted robbery, retail theft, probation violations, theft, resisting arrest, criminal trespass to a vehicle and domestic battery.
May I submit that this chap's anger management classes have failed him?
If he is a muslim and it was a christian kitten, this is fully understandable and justified.
-and his recorded criminal career began at age 17.......mm.
Should have torn the head off a human. They would have ordered counseling.
"Thornton's criminal background, dating to 2002, includes convictions of burglary, attempted robbery, retail theft, probation violations, theft, resisting arrest, criminal trespass to a vehicle and domestic battery."
Yeah, but those things did not put him in jail. In order to go to jail in Illinois, you've gotta tear the head off a kitten.
Amen!
How do you know that the concurrent parole violation sentence is equal to or greater than the animal cruelty sentence?
" he tore the head off a kitten "
When the cons compare tough guy bragging rights, for what crimes they were sentenced for, I think this guy's masculinity may come into question.
A kitten isn't a mouse or a fly. Dogs and cats have an approximate mentality of a 3 year old (mice don't have reasoning ability). So hurting or killing a pet (something about interacting with humans enhances part of their brains) is the same as hurting or killing a 3 year old child.
Also, torturing animals almost always leads to doing the same to humans.
And yes, hurting a pet hurts the owner. If someone was to hurt my cat (see my profile), I would end their life it at all possible.
The guy just should have used the liberal excuse: I made a mistake.
The aforementioned creatures are not normally considered to be Companion Animals. Dogs and Cats are.
It's also one that finds corroboration amongst even contemporary academics. John Douglas, founder of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit(the profilers) identified cruelty to animals as one of three precursor behaviors / warning signs exhibited by the overwhelming majority of serial killers before they turned to the murder of human beings.
Good. Hope he is in prison for a long, long time. Sickos like this should have to register upon release.
I not blaming the chick, but why is she living with a guy that has a criminal record like his? She obviously knows his background. He's a POS and she is without brains. She's lucky she made it out alive.
Plus, he'd be guaranteed 72 yellow labs when he got to Heaven.
That's why they're not "clinics".
Cordially
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