Update On Blinded Donkey

[Guest guest]

Received from BHGazette 5/27/01 7:50 pm

 

Please write a quick note to the Judge who'll be

sentencing the culprits who brutalized Doris the

donkey & the miniature horses in Orchard Park, NY

(original information follows)

 

Tell the judge that the animals are not the only

victims in this case. The humans who love the animals

are forever scarred by this incident. They not only

have to live every day with how their animals are

suffering, but they live in fear for their own safety.

Every day that the perpetrators of such violence are

free to roam is yet another day people must live in

fear for themselves and their loved ones.

 

Ask the judge to give the most severe penalties

allowed under law. Youthful offender status should not

even be considered.

 

The Hon. Mario J. Rossetti

Justice of the Supreme Court

92 Franklin Street

Buffalo, New York 14202

 

Original story:

Amid uproar, 3 in animal-abuse case plead guilty

By JANICE L. HABUDA; News Staff Reporter; 5/17/01

Already condemned in the court of public opinion,

three of the teenagers indicted in an Orchard Park

animal-cruelty case pleaded guilty - Christopher

Fisher, 18; John Forant, 17; and Christopher

Marszalek, 18 - pleaded guilty to felony charges of

burglary & aggravated cruelty to animals. Sentencing

was scheduled for Jul 27. The fourth defendant,

Vincent Evan, 17, pleaded not guilty to a felony

burglary charge. No future court date was set for him.

 

The teens are accused of breaking into the barn of the

Thelen family, neighbors of Fisher, early last month.

A pregnant donkey was shot & beaten with a BB gun &

three miniature horses also were attacked. Doris, the

donkey, was left blind; she gave birth Apr 29 to a

healthy jack named Theodore.

 

" I'm glad they pled guilty, " Sarah Thelen said. " I

hope they pled guilty because they're accepting

responsibility for what they did. "

 

News of the attacks sparked community outrage &

petition drives urging full prosecution by the Erie

County district attorney's office. " Quite frankly, we

took a no-plea stance right from the outset, " DA Frank

J. Clark said.

 

The burglary charge carries the most serious potential

penalty: from 2 1/2 to seven years in prison; the

animal-cruelty charge has a maximum penalty of two

years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

 

Rosetti told the three he'd consider granting them

youthful-offender status, which would limit the

sentence to 4 yrs, vacate criminal charges & seal

their records. All four were allowed to remain free on

the $2,500 bail each of them posted previously.

 

It is unknown whether public outcry was a factor in

the guilty pleas, which the district attorney said are

" highly unusual " at arraignment. The teens declined to

comment as they left the courtroom with their

attorneys.

 

Clark said his office received correspondence about

the case from as far away as British Columbia. " We

received petitions with thousands & thousands of

signatures, " he said.

 

Community reaction was a factor in his office's

position on the case, but not the only one. " I don't

substitute the community's judgment for my judgment, "

Clark said. " I'm a member of the community, too. I was

moved by the senselessness of the whole thing. "

 

 

 

 

Get personalized email addresses from Mail - only $35

a year! http://personal.mail./