The case of confessed cat killer Scott Herrin took another bizarre turn Friday when a judge refused to accept Herrin’s guilty plea and told the state to put him back on trial. Twentieth Circuit Senior Judge Charles T. Carlton made the ruling after going over three e-mails allegedly written by Herrin in which he talked disparagingly of his prosecutor and said he and his wife joked about becoming suicide bombers and blowing themselves up at Wal-Mart and TECO Arena. “Although they said it was joking, you don’t joke about this stuff,” Carlton said. “You just do not do that.” Assistant State Attorney Christopher Crowley hoped to use the e-mails — which were sent to The News-Press — to persuade Carlton to give Herrin jail time.
He told the judge circumstantial evidence strongly links Herrin to the long, obscenity-laced messages. But he said the state couldn’t conclusively prove Herrin sent them. Herrin’s attorney, John Spiller of Immokalee, denied Herrin sent the e-mails and suggested they were written by someone else as “subterfuge” in an effort to get Herrin in deeper trouble. Herrin, 26, has admitted taking part in the killing and mutilation of his cat at his North Fort Myers trailer on Feb. 11, 2001.
The crime was discovered after photos of the cat’s killing and bloody carcass were taken to a drugstore to be developed. Carlton — who angered animal lovers nationwide by saying he would sentence Herrin to only probation and community service — said whoever sent the e-mails “certainly has a dark mind.” “This whole scenario goes into suicide,” Carlton said.
The judge said he was setting aside Herrin’s guilty plea because it was “in the best interest of justice.” He did not elaborate. Crowley — who wants Herrin jailed for a year and fined $1,000 — vowed to put Herrin on trial again. “We’re ready to go to trial, hopefully in one month,” Crowley said. “... Even without the e-mails, this is an evil and heinous crime.” Dressed in a green shirt and black pants, Herrin said nothing as he left court with his parents and Spiller. Carlton said he’d done a lot of research on the e-mails and found many references to suicide and people who have committed suicide. He said one statement made in the e-mails makes it appear the writer was in court during Herrin’s trial. The judge also said if statements made in one of the e-mails are true, Herrin could be guilty of perjury. Herrin admitted in April to two reporters for The News-Press that he sent the e-mails.
The News-Press turned the messages over to the state attorney’s office when the third e-mail talked of suicide bombings. Crowley said the state couldn’t prove for certain Herrin sent the e-mails because they were traced to a computer owned by a rental center and the man records show was renting the computer at the time says he doesn’t know Herrin. Other than that, “It all points to Mr. Herrin,” Crowley said.
In addition to Herrin, his wife, Leeah Shepardson, 19, and two other young women were arrested after the slaying of Thora, Herrin’s Siamese cat. Shepardson — who was pictured in one of the photos standing beneath the cat’s dead body as blood dripped onto her hands — pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty and is serving a year in jail. The other two women were acquitted.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office found out about the killing after being notified by Walgreen’s employees who were horrified by the photos. Herrin — who told an investigator he killed the feline because it had fleas and kept him awake — originally was charged with felony animal cruelty. But Carlton dismissed the charge after the state was unable to prove it.
Herrin then pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty, which is punishable by up to a year in jail. After the guilty plea, Carlton said he’d likely give Herrin no jail time because he had no prior convictions. Animal lovers who heard about the case through the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were outraged and inundated Carlton with letters and e-mails demanding Herrin go to jail.
Herrin originally was to be sentenced April 25. But the sentencing was delayed after Carlton was told of the e-mails. The judge ordered an investigation. Terri Lodge of Fort Myers was among the small crowd of people who attended Friday’s hearing. “Hopefully, this will come out to a resolution where the parties pay for what they did,” Lodge said. “I think anybody who can do this to an animal could do something to children. I don’t want this in our community at all.”
Russell Weston Jr., tortured and killed 12 cats: burned and cut off their tails, paws, ears; poured toxic chemicals in their eyes to blind them; forced them to ingest poison, hung them from trees (the noose loose enough to create a slow and painful death.) Later killed 2 officers at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
Jeffery Dahmer staked cats to trees and decapitated dogs. Later he dissected boys and kept their body parts in the refrigerator. Murdered 17 men.
Kip Kinkle shot 25 classmates (killing several) in Springfield, Oregon. He killed his father and mother. He said he blew up a cow once, set a live cat on fire and dragged the innocent creature through the main street of town. Classmates rated him as "Most Likely to Start WWIII."
As a boy, Albert De Salvo, the "Boston Strangler," placed a dog and cat in a crate with a partition between them. After starving the animals for days, he removed the partition to watch them kill each other. He raped and killed 13 women by strangulation. He often posed bodies in a shocking manner after their murders.
Richard Allen Davis set numerous cats on fire. He killed all of Polly Klaus' animals before abducting and murdering Polly Klaus, aged 12, from her bedroom.
11-year-old Andrew Golden and 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson tortured and killed dogs. On March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Golden and Johnson shot and killed 4 students and 1 teacher during a fire drill at their school.
After 16-year-old Luke Woodham mortally stabbed his mother, killed 2 classmates and shot 7 others, he confessed to bludgeoning his dog Sparkle with baseball bats and pouring liquid fuel down her throat and to set fire to her neck. "I made my first kill today," he wrote in his court-subpoenaed journal. "It was a loved one...I'll never forget the howl she made. It sounded almost human." In June 1998, Woodham was found guilty of 3 murders and 7 counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 3 life sentences and an additional 20 years for each assault.
Theodore Robert Bundy, executed in 1989 for at least 50 murders, was forced to witness a grandfather who tortured animals. Bundy later heaped graves with animal bones.
At 4-years-old, Michael Cartier dislocated the legs of rabbits and hurled a kitten through a closed window. He later shot Kristin Lardner 3 times in the head, before shooting himself.
Henry Lee Lucas killed numerous animals and had sex with their corpses. He killed his mother, common law wife, and an unknown number of people.
Edward Kemperer cut up 2 cats. He later killed his grandparents, mother, and 7 other women.
Richard Speck threw a bird into a ventilator fan. He later killed 8 women.
Randy Roth taped a cat to a car's engine and used an industrial sander on a frog. He killed 2 of his wives and attempted to kill a third.
David Richard Davis shot and killed 2 healthy ponies, threw a wine bottle at a pair of kittens, and hunted with illegal methods. He murdered his wife, Shannon Mohr Davis, for insurance money.
Peter Kurten, the Dusseldorf Monster, tortured dogs, and practiced bestiality while killing animals. He murdered or attempted to murder over 50 men, women and children.
Richard Trenton Chase, "The Vampire Killer of Sacramento," bit the heads off birds, drained animals for their blood, killed animals for their organs, and later killed 6 people in random attacks. One police officer present at the scene of the first murder, confessed to having nightmares about the crime for months afterwards.
Richard William Leonard's grandmother forced him to kill and mutilate cats and kittens when he was a child. He later killed Stephen Dempsey with a bow and arrow. He also killed Ezzedine Bahmad by slashing his throat.
Tom Dillion murdered people's pets. He shot and killed Jamie Paxton, aged 21; Claude Hawkins, aged 49; Donald Welling, aged 35; Kevin Loring, aged 30; and Gary Bradely, aged 44.
At 9-years-old, Eric Smith strangled a neighbor's cat. At 13, he bludgeoned 4-year-old Derrick Robie to death. Smith lured the little boy into the woods, choked him, sodomized him with a stick, then beat him to death with a rock.
David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam," poisoned his mother's parakeet out of jealousy. He later shot 13 young men and women. 6 people died and at least 2 suffered permanent disabilities.
Arthur Shawcross repeatedly threw a kitten into a lake until the kitten drowned from exhaustion. Killed a young girl. After serving 15-1/2 years in prison, he killed 11 more women.
Michael Perry decapitated a neighbor's dog. He killed his parents, infant nephew and 2 neighbors.
Jason Massey¹s killing resume began with cats and dogs; at 20 he decapitated and disemboweled a 13-year-old girl and fatally shot a 14-year old boy. He claims to have killed 37 cats, 29 dogs and 6 cows.
Patrick Sherrill stole neighborhood pets, tethered them with baling wire and encouraged his dog to mutilate them. He killed 14 co-workers and himself in 1986.
Keith Hunter Jesperson, "Happy Face Killer," bashed gopher heads and beat, strangled and shot stray cats and dogs. He is known to have strangled 8 women. He said: "You're actually squeezing the life out of these animals...Choking a human being or a cat--it's the same feeling...I'm the very end result of what happens when somebody kills an animal at an early age."
Carroll Edward Cole, executed in 1985 for an alleged 35 murders and reputed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, confessed that his first act of violence was to strangle a puppy under the porch of his house.
Robert Alton Harris murdered two 16-year-old boys, doused a neighbor with lighter fluid and tossed matches at him. His initial run-in with police was for killing neighborhood cats.