Hold Animal Killers Accountable/Charge 4 the Crime as Adults

  • by: Donna Earley
  • recipient: Lawrence County Ohio, Prosecutors Office Brigham M. Anderson, Prosecutor; The City of Ironton Rich Blankenship, Mayor

Lawrence County Ohio, Prosecutors Office
Brigham M. Anderson, Prosecutor
111 So. 4th St. Ironton, Ohio 45638
(740)-533-4360
(740)-533-4387 Fax

The City of Ironton
Rich Blankenship, Mayor
Ironton City Center, 301 South 3rd St., P.O. Box 704, Ironton, OH 45638
Phone: (740) 532-3833 - Fax: (740) 532-7556 -

On March 24th in Lawrence County, KITTS HILL, Ohio a 17 year old Zac Robinson shot and killed “Pup” a beloved family beagle belonging to his neighbor Melissa Hern’s young son. Zac Robinson, 3 months from being an adult shot the beagle several times causing the pup to lay and suffer in extreme pain until Pup finally died. Neighbors witnessed the shooting and describe the incident as devastating. Zac Robinson using a high powered rifle from his back porch shot “Pup” the beagle in his neighbors yard numerous times. Several people witnessed the shooting and some were actually in the line of fire.
Robinson’s mother confirmed that her son did shoot the dog was not at home at the time of the shooting. In order to cover for her son she claimed that “Pup” had attacked their dog. However those who witnessed the shooting did not see no dog attacks.
When it was reported to the authorities, law officers confiscated the weapon but did not arrest Robinson. After thousands of inquiries from concerned citizens and animal advocates, prosecutors decided to bring charges against Zac Robinson. Prosecutors say they are filing a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge against Robinson unable to charge him as an adult. Robinson will receive a summons to appear in juvenile court for a hearing at which time he may celebrate his 18th birthday.
This is a very disappointing outcome to a horrendous crime against a family and Pup’s young owner. Due to the lack of justice, “We the People” are demanding that the courts hold Zac Robinson to the fullest extent of that the law allows under the juvenile jurisdiction.
This petition serves two purposes…one being that this horrendous act deserves a much more severe charge then what the law currently allows. The other purpose is to inform citizens that the FBI has founded a direct link between animal cruelty and serial offenders in domestic violence, rape and murder. Those found to abuse animals at an early age are more than likely to result to more serious crimes against humans in the future. In 2016 the FBI will implement a registry of animal abusers to follow these who injure, maim and kill animals.

FBI TURNS ANIMAL CRUELTY INTO A TOP TIER “CLASS A” FELONY ON IT’S OWN
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Young people who torture and kill animals are prone to violence against people later in life if it goes unchecked, studies have shown. A new federal category for animal cruelty crimes will help root out those pet abusers before their behavior worsens and give a boost to prosecutions, an animal welfare group says.
For years, the FBI has filed animal abuse under the label "other" along with a variety of lesser crimes, making cruelty hard to find, hard to count and hard to track. The bureau announced this month that it would make animal cruelty a Group A felony with its own category — the same way crimes like homicide, arson and assault are listed.
"It will help get better sentences, sway juries and make for better plea bargains," said Madeline Bernstein, president and CEO of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles and a former New York prosecutor.
The category also will help identify young offenders, and a defendant might realize "if he gets help now, he won't turn into Jeffrey Dahmer," she said.

Law enforcement agencies will have to report incidents and arrests in four areas: simple or gross neglect; intentional abuse and torture; organized abuse, including dogfighting and cockfighting; and animal sexual abuse, the FBI said in statement. The bureau didn't answer questions beyond a short statement.
"The immediate benefit is it will be in front of law enforcement every month when they have to do their crime reports," said John Thompson, interim executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association who worked to get the new animal cruelty category instituted. "That's something we have never seen."
Officers will start to see the data are facts and "not just somebody saying the 'Son of Sam' killed animals before he went to human victims and 70-some percent of the school shooters abused animals prior to doing their acts before people," said Thompson, a retired assistant sheriff from Prince George's County, Maryland.
FBI studies show that serial killers like Dahmer impaled the heads of dogs, frogs and cats on sticks; David Berkowitz, known as the "Son of Sam," poisoned his mother's parakeet; and Albert DeSalvo, aka the "Boston Strangler," trapped cats and dogs in wooden crates and killed them by shooting arrows through the boxes.
It will take time and money to update FBI and law enforcement databases nationwide, revise manuals and send out guidelines, Thompson said, so there won't be any data collected until January 2016. After that, it will take several months before there are numbers to analyze.
The new animal cruelty statistics will allow police and counselors to work with children who show early signs of trouble, so a preschooler hurting animals today isn't going to be hurting a person two years from now, Bernstein said.
The FBI's category will track crimes nationwide and is bound to give animal cruelty laws in all 50 states more clout. Many states are seeing more of those convicted of animal cruelty being sentenced to prison, in marked contrast to years past.
Whether talking about state laws or the FBI change, it is clear "that regardless of whether people care about how animals are treated, people — like legislators and judges — care about humans, and they can't deny the data," said Natasha Dolezal, director of the animal law program in the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

___

Online:

— National Sheriffs' Association: www.sheriffs.org

— Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles: www.spcala.com

— Center for Animal Law Studies: law.lclark.edu/centers/animal_law_studies


The person accused here with the cruel shooting death of a young beagle, charged only as a juvenile, has had prior instances (history) in his past, as early as 3rd grade which establishes a possible pattern of violence. Because of this, Zac Robinson should have been charged as an adult in this shooting. However…his next crime against animals or humans will be too late for that victim.
It is time…time that we listen to those in the FBI who believe these patterns show early on those who will injure and kill animals…will eventually seek human victims to satisfy their urges of violence.
So this petition not only ask for the laws to be strictly enforced at a maximum sentence for Zac Robinson an adult (juvenile)…we hope to show that these laws need to be changed regarding the prosecution’s ability to charge a 17 year old guilty of such heinous crimes of abuse, violence, rape and murder to be charged as adults when the crime warrants intervention for public safety.

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