thrill killer Kenneth Peterson

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Texas Horse Talk News Alert!Brazos County Prosecutor Shane Phelps has issued a statement outlining his decision to accept a plea bargain in the case of equine thrill killer Kenneth Peterson. It may be found in its entirety at Texas Horse Talk Online www.texashorsetalk. com. Just click on the Breaking News icon:http://www.texashorsetalk.com/breakingnews.htm(see related info/background below)------------------------Additional info: Thanks to Randy Turner for the below information, which I cross post with his permission. MargaretRandy Turner <randy wrote:RE: Kenneth Ryan Peterson, the former Texas A & M student who butchered a

horse. After being found guilty by the jury the former Texas A & M student who butchered a horse entered into a plea bargain in which he will serve 6 months in a state jail then 3 months in the Brazos County jail as part of 5 years’ probation. He also has to pay the horse owner $10,000 restitution, buy a full-page newspaper ad apologizing to the owner, undergo psychological evaluation and alcohol treatment if directed, perform 250 hours of community service, and not own or live with any pets while on probation. Randall E. Turner 1300 South University Dr., Suite 602 Fort Worth, Texas

76107 Tel.: 817-348-0925 Fax: 817-926-6697 www.RandallTurner.usUpdated Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:01 AMMan accused of killing horseBy CRAIG KAPITANEagle Staff WriterProsecutors began presenting evidence Tuesday against a former Texas A & M University student accused of torturing a horse during a drunken early morning "adventure" last October. Pearland resident Kenneth Ryan Peterson, 22, was seen strangling a cat at his friend's apartment in the hours before the horse -- named Cowgirl Chic -- was believed to have died, a witness told

jurors. He was also seen leaving the apartment with an oversized croquet mallet after talking with another intoxicated friend about finding a horse, another witness said. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to the cruelty to animals charge. Texas A & M senior Andrew Vigneaux mimicked the labored breathing of the horse Tuesday while describing to jurors his discovery of the heavily bleeding horse in a pasture near Reveille Ranch, where he lived. "It sounded like a water fountain was coming out of the neck," he said of the blood as he took the witness stand. "I could hear the drops just hitting the ground. I started getting woozy." Vigneaux said he had returned to his apartment on the morning of Friday, Oct. 13, with friends Peterson and Walter Williams. The two friends had been drinking and were going to stay at his place, he said.

But a short time after returning home, he said, he emerged from his bedroom to find the friends holding a golf club and a large mallet he used to play extreme croquet. "They said they were going to go on an adventure," he said, explaining that the duo walked out the door before telling him what was going on. After following the two to the nearby pasture minutes later, Vigneaux said Peterson was missing and Williams appeared to be in shock. "Something bad happened to the horse," he recalled Williams saying. "Kenneth came up and cut the horse." According to Vigneaux, he was asked by Williams to help the horse because the friend figured Vigneaux -- as a pre-med student -- would know what to do. "What have you done?" Vigneaux said he asked in anger, starting to cry as he pet the horse and comforted it. "It wasn't me, dude,"

he recalled Williams responding. "I can't believe this happened." Several minutes later, he said, Williams decided to put the animal out of its misery and stabbed it in the heart with the golf club, which had been snapped in half. Vigneaux covered his ears and closed his eyes when it happened, he said, adding that afterward he closed the animal's eyes and said a prayer for it. During questioning, prosecutors expressed some skepticism that he had no involvement in the animal's injury. Williams also has been charged with cruelty to animals but Vigneaux has not. The charge against Williams is pending. Vigneaux said he and Williams talked about calling police, but he had drugs

in the house and didn't want to jeopardize his chance of getting into medical school by having a criminal record. Instead, he said, he played computer poker with Williams while waiting for Peterson to return to the apartment. But police were called to the apartment the next morning by Vigneaux's landlord after his roommate reported finding blood smeared across the apartment. The roommate, A & M student Troy Allen, also testified Tuesday -- describing to jurors waking up on the couch the night before the horse was killed to the sound of a cat screaming. "Kenneth Peterson had a cat that he was choking," Allen said, explaining that the animal was suspended and "screeching about as loud as I've heard a cat scream." Peterson stopped, he said, after he yelled at him. Allen said he then went to his room to go to sleep but could still hear Peterson and Williams talking through the wall. "It seemed like a pretty bizarre thing," he said, explaining that the

two were overheard discussing a plan to kill a horse. "I really wasn't taking anybody seriously." Allen was awakened again around 5:30 the next morning, he said, when his roommate and the two guests appeared to have noisily returned to the apartment. He said he saw Peterson and Williams in the bathroom cleaning off blood and decided it would be a good idea to go back into his room and lock his door. Peterson knocked on his door a short time later and said they needed to talk and that he might be in trouble because he killed a horse, Allen said. But fearing for his own safety at that point, he didn't open the door, he said. Prosecutors John Brick and Shane Phelps -- the District Attorney's first-chair prosecutor, who also serves as president of the Brazos Animal Shelter board of directors -- warned jurors Tuesday that they would be shown "unpleasant pictures" during the course of the trial. "We need to give you a sense of what happened to this horse,"

Brick said during an opening statement. Defense attorneys Jim James and Craig Greening declined to immediately give an opening statement. The defense has not yet begun presenting its case. If convicted, Peterson could face up to two years' incarceration for the state jail felony charge. Prosecutors tried to have the charge enhanced to a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, by alleging that Peterson used a deadly weapon in the commission of the crime. However, 85th District Judge J.D. Langley ruled Monday that a deadly weapon finding can only be used in crimes against humans. Prosecutors are expected to continue calling witnesses when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Brazos County Courthouse. • Craig Kapitan's e-mail address is craig.kapitan@ theeagle. com.All the arguments to prove man's superiority can not shatter this hard fact: In suffering, the animals are our equals. --Peter Singer, Animal Liberationhttp://www.myspace. com/fortheanmalshttp://www.chooseveg.com/meet-your-meat.asp The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. -Albert Einstein