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.
Perhaps someone should explain the meaning of "concurrently" to Stephanee Smith.
[Didn't find this story posted.]
Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, for U.S. Senate. He doesn't rip the heads of kittens.
I hope this SOB rots in Hell.
God made us caretakers of our animal family members. They are like eternal children and require our care and love.
The later is forbidden also...
Lots of prison sentences run concurrently.
It doesn't negate the fact that he did receive the sentence.
I'm surprised all the Viking Kitties didn't turn this thread into an "Apocalypse Meow" picture fest.
Would he have been convicted for splattering a mouse with a trap? For swatting a mosquito? For eating an oyster? For crushing nematodes unwittingly under heel?
Is the penalty given for what he did to the animal, or for what he did to the animal's owner?
All that in less than 4 years? What is this guy doing out in the streets? Eight convictions in less than four years and he's not in prison? Something is very wrong with our justice system.
If his live-in girlfriend has a brain, she will move with no forwarding address.........she is lucky he didn't break her neck.
Unquestionably the act of a sick individual... but pray, why do I get the impression in stories like this that punishment for abusing a critter is more swift and sure these days than, say, a child?
Rip the head of a fetus in an abortion clinic and you will be lauded by the loony left.
Sad but true.
Wait... he's 21, she's 30. There's a little something wrong there...
I dunno. If this
Man sentenced to prison for tearing head off kitten
instead read like this
Man sentenced to prison for tearing head off toddler
I would be happy if never made it to prison, because he 'Tripped and fell down the stairs. Onto some bullets'.
LOL!
I just saw the puppy ad last night. I had never laughed at a politcal ad before. At least one that actually had the intention of making me laugh. I laugh at some of the dems' ads all the time, but I don't think that's the intent.
What a sick SOB! He should be put to sleep. Someone like this should not be allowed to live.
Both.
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