Please show your support to a Pennsylvania lady who was convicted of theft for trying to help a dyin
- by: Jaime L. Schlusser, Pennsylvania constituent, Furry Friends Network volunteer
- recipient: Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania
This is Tammy Grimes's story:
On December 14, 2007, I was convicted of theft and receiving stolen property for
coming to the aid of this dog, who lay chained, unable to stand, and suffering
in an East Freedom, Pennsylvania backyard.
Despite overwhelming evidence of cruelty on the part of the dog's caretakers, no
charges were ever brought against them by either the humane officer or the police.
A private criminal complaint filed by myself and Dogs Deserve Better languishes
unaddressed on the desk of DA Richard Consiglio.
Both video evidence of the dog struggling to get up and after-photos and video of
the dog walking were suppressed from the jury. These videos are currently available
for viewing on YouTube and our site.
I am to be sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Doyle on February 22, 2008. I am expected
to receive a fine and/or community service, as well as probation for this supposed
crime. I am morally and ethically unable and unwilling to pay any fine that goes
to pay the salaries of those who use power wrongly; those who punish citizens for
helping animals and allow animal abusers to go free will not receive monetary support
from me.
The DA has taken flack in the opinion columns of local newspapers for wasting Blair
County taxpayer money on my trial. His solution? To charge ME for the cost of the
trial, reported to be over $1000. He expects me to pay costs for a jury who knew
nothing of jury nullification, and knew not that they were free to exercise their
own judgment based on their consciences rather than follow the advice of those in
power just because they said they had to. They were therefore railroaded into a
conviction by the actions of the DA and Judge Doyle.
It is not enough for Mr. Consiglio to drag my name and the name of Dogs Deserve
Better through the mud in order to distract our citizens from the fact that cruelty
laws were already being broken, and that the humane officer and the police failed
to do their jobs. He would have me foot the bill for it. As a taxpayer of Blair
County, Pennsylvania, I have already contributed my share to this trial. I will
contribute no more.
As founder and director of Dogs Deserve Better, I do community service virtually
ever day of my life. If fact, I was performing community service the day I picked
an aged and dying dog out of the mud and got him the veterinary care he was entitled
to by law.
I am a law-abiding citizen of both Pennsylvania and the United States of America.
I have served my country as a top-secret cleared linguist in the U. S. Air Force,
reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant at my first available opportunity, and honorably
discharged in 1988. I strive very hard to obey all laws that seem fair and do not
cause harm to others. I stop short of obeying any law that would force me to watch
a dog die in the dirt, just because he is considered mere property of another. I
will continue to fight for better laws for man's best friend, as well as shine
a light on the current lack of enforcement of existing cruelty laws.
This dog was not just another piece of trash that a Pennsylvania couple could allow
to die unassisted, chained, and flailing about in the mud and his own feces in their
yard. Doogie had the right to live or the right to a death free from cruelty, and
the right to veterinary help by Pennsylvania law.
It is incumbent upon Blair County voters to remove from office anyone who by their
actions or inactions condones animal cruelty and abuse and punishes those who seek
to help these animals. This includes Judge Elizabeth Doyle and DA Richard Consiglio.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that "noncooperation with evil is just as much a
moral obligation as is cooperation with good." And Thoreau stated "Under a government
which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison...where
the state places those who are not with her, but against her-the only house in
a slave state in which a free man or woman can abide with honor."
The only way for me to maintain a clear conscience is to choose prison as punishment
for my crime. I hereby request that Judge Doyle jail me for however many days I
should be imprisoned for the taking of a piece of property who's value, while stated
in the misdemeanor charges at 0-$50, after vet fees was more like negative $960.65.
However, as one of our supporters said, Doogie's freedom from abuse and restoration
Sign PetitionSign PetitionOn December 14, 2007, I was convicted of theft and receiving stolen property for
coming to the aid of this dog, who lay chained, unable to stand, and suffering
in an East Freedom, Pennsylvania backyard.
Despite overwhelming evidence of cruelty on the part of the dog's caretakers, no
charges were ever brought against them by either the humane officer or the police.
A private criminal complaint filed by myself and Dogs Deserve Better languishes
unaddressed on the desk of DA Richard Consiglio.
Both video evidence of the dog struggling to get up and after-photos and video of
the dog walking were suppressed from the jury. These videos are currently available
for viewing on YouTube and our site.
I am to be sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Doyle on February 22, 2008. I am expected
to receive a fine and/or community service, as well as probation for this supposed
crime. I am morally and ethically unable and unwilling to pay any fine that goes
to pay the salaries of those who use power wrongly; those who punish citizens for
helping animals and allow animal abusers to go free will not receive monetary support
from me.
The DA has taken flack in the opinion columns of local newspapers for wasting Blair
County taxpayer money on my trial. His solution? To charge ME for the cost of the
trial, reported to be over $1000. He expects me to pay costs for a jury who knew
nothing of jury nullification, and knew not that they were free to exercise their
own judgment based on their consciences rather than follow the advice of those in
power just because they said they had to. They were therefore railroaded into a
conviction by the actions of the DA and Judge Doyle.
It is not enough for Mr. Consiglio to drag my name and the name of Dogs Deserve
Better through the mud in order to distract our citizens from the fact that cruelty
laws were already being broken, and that the humane officer and the police failed
to do their jobs. He would have me foot the bill for it. As a taxpayer of Blair
County, Pennsylvania, I have already contributed my share to this trial. I will
contribute no more.
As founder and director of Dogs Deserve Better, I do community service virtually
ever day of my life. If fact, I was performing community service the day I picked
an aged and dying dog out of the mud and got him the veterinary care he was entitled
to by law.
I am a law-abiding citizen of both Pennsylvania and the United States of America.
I have served my country as a top-secret cleared linguist in the U. S. Air Force,
reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant at my first available opportunity, and honorably
discharged in 1988. I strive very hard to obey all laws that seem fair and do not
cause harm to others. I stop short of obeying any law that would force me to watch
a dog die in the dirt, just because he is considered mere property of another. I
will continue to fight for better laws for man's best friend, as well as shine
a light on the current lack of enforcement of existing cruelty laws.
This dog was not just another piece of trash that a Pennsylvania couple could allow
to die unassisted, chained, and flailing about in the mud and his own feces in their
yard. Doogie had the right to live or the right to a death free from cruelty, and
the right to veterinary help by Pennsylvania law.
It is incumbent upon Blair County voters to remove from office anyone who by their
actions or inactions condones animal cruelty and abuse and punishes those who seek
to help these animals. This includes Judge Elizabeth Doyle and DA Richard Consiglio.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that "noncooperation with evil is just as much a
moral obligation as is cooperation with good." And Thoreau stated "Under a government
which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison...where
the state places those who are not with her, but against her-the only house in
a slave state in which a free man or woman can abide with honor."
The only way for me to maintain a clear conscience is to choose prison as punishment
for my crime. I hereby request that Judge Doyle jail me for however many days I
should be imprisoned for the taking of a piece of property who's value, while stated
in the misdemeanor charges at 0-$50, after vet fees was more like negative $960.65.
However, as one of our supporters said, Doogie's freedom from abuse and restoration
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