COURT CALENDAR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:
British High Court Justice
Richard Rougier ruled November 22 that a
pit bull terrier named Dempsey, subject of
three years of internationally publicized litigation,
need not be euthanized simply because a
friend of owner Dianne Fanneran allowed her
to run temporarily without a muzzle, violating
the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, which
banned pit bulls from Great Britain. Rougier
wrote that the Dangerous Dogs Act, “bears all
the hallmarks of an ill-thought-out piece of
legislation, no doubt drafted in response to a
pressure group.”
High school science teacher
Mickey Duncan, 25, of Braggs, Oklahoma,
was sentenced October 24 to doing 100 hours
of community service at an animal shelter,
after pleading no contest to misdemeanor cruelty
for attempting to dissect a live cat in class
on October 3. Matha Richardson, the student
who reported Duncan, “is being abused psychologically
and emotionally by students,
teachers, the principal, and the superintendent,”
an acquaintance tells ANIMAL PEOP
L E. Letters of support may be sent to her
c/o 927 Maple St., Muskogee, OK 74403.
A jury deliberated 10 hours on
November 17 before breaking a deadlock to
convict Donald Kirschner, 31, of stomping a
cat to death on January 28, 1994, outside his
home in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in
front of two children. Kirschner, noted locally
for his love of hunting, testified that he
thought the cat was rabid––which didn’t
explain why he used his feet to dispatch the
animal. According to the police report, he
subsequently threatened to kill an adult witness.
He drew 12 hours in jail and a fine of
$1,500, to be divided between the local
Society for Protection of Animals and the volunteer
group Pet Helpers.
Overruling a Police Department
Trial Commissioner’s recommendation t h a t
Officer Gil Ilefonso and Sergeant Hector
Collazo should be suspended for 30 and 20
days respectively, for allegedly beating a stationhouse
beagle and then taking him to the
American SPCA for euthanasia, New York
City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton
instead fired both men on November
17––despite the threat of a lawsuit from the
Sergeants Benevolent Association–– for pursuing
a “pattern of deceit.”
Previously convicted of burglary,
theft, and three cocaine offenses, A l l a n
Laboy, 37, of South Dade, Florida, was convicted
by jury on November 8 of hurling a
puppy against a sidewalk repeatedly, causing
the animal’s death. LaBoy could get up to 14.5
years in prison when sentenced on December
19––4.5 years for breaking probation, and 10
years under Florida’s new “three strikes” law
as a three-time felon.
Accused serial cat killer Ronald
Works, 24, pleaded guilty to four counts of
animal abuse on November 9. To be sentenced
December 26 as the first person convicted
under Oregon’s new felony cruelty law,
Works could get five years in prison per count.
In Wilson County, Tennessee, the
Wilson County Humane Association and
Sheriff’s Department on November 5 staged
their second cockfighting raid in less than a
year, but left 50 to 60 fighting cocks behind,
seizing only three who were injured. “There
was simply no way for me to haul all of them,”
said WCHA officer Gail Morris. “Also, there
were several kids there, and I didn’t want them
to get the impression the Humane Association
is there to do nothing but take people’s animals.”
Cockfighters have recently been suing
humane officials for confiscating birds; in
Tennessee, such a case is pending against
Knox County Humane Society executive
director Vicky Crosetti, who in 1994 euthanized
five cocks owned by John Brown of
Corbin, Kentucky.
Continuing to pressure Louisiana
pounds to comply with humane laws,
Legislation In Support of Animals on October
30 filed suit against the city of Franklinton for
failing to honor a 1993 consent judgement
obligating the city to humanely house and care
for homeless animals. On November 8, LISA
also sued Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, for
violating the 1990 state law mandating that all
animals adopted out of municipal shelters be
sterilized within 30 days.
