Alert 12/28/07
First we had Bob Kane suggesting people forego rabies shots, go out-of-state or adopt an as-sumed name to evade identification.
Now comes Walt Hutchens. From Lexington, VA, he habitually rails against any animal welfare change, and here he advocates that dogfighting (if punished at all), should be like a parking ticket.
Mr. Hutchens further advocates that people with low incomes can commit such crimes with im-punity. His comments follow our brief summary.
Background:
The good Senator Roscoe Reynolds has filed SB26, a bill which will allow the RICO act to be used in prosecuting dogfighting cases. There have been several groups working to have this bill considered this session, including VVAW working with ALDF (Animal Legal Defense Fund), promoting this bill.
Please let Sen. Reynolds know you support him. His email: district20@sov.state.va.us
Please ask your delegate and your senator to co-patron this bill - SB26. Make sure you say you are a constituent.
And please let us hear from you about dogfighting and what is happening with dogfighting where you are – particularly if you are animal control officers, policemen, or Commonwealth attorneys. We will use your reports to get this legislation passed.
Thank you. We think it is time to get REALLY BIG penalties!
Lillian Clancy and Don Marro
Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare
___________________
> From: Walt Hutchens <waltah@earthlink.net>
> To: va-pet-law@yahoogroups.com
> Date: 12/26/2007 10:54:34 PM
> Subject: [VAPetLaw] VA SB 26 -- Bigger penalties for dog fighting
>
> I mean REALLY BIG ... The link to the bill summary is:
>
> http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+sum+SB26
>
> And the bill itself is at:
>
> http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+ful+SB26
>
> This bill is a bit of a mess to read but the summary is accurate: SB
> 26 would make 'organized' dog fighting a qualifying offense under the
> Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization ('RICO') Act.
>
> RICO statutes were created and passed to deal with the fact that
> patterns of small crimes are often a much bigger deal than the small
> crimes themselves. If a drug ring makes 1000 sales at $20 each in a
> month, is that JUST 1000 small drug deals for which the dealers should
> be busted and sent away? RICO allows charging the people responsible
> for the ring with something much bigger, and sending them away for a
> long time.
>
> What SB 26 does is very simple: It adds Virginia's existing law
> against dog fighting to the list of offenses that qualify for RICO
> treatment. That's the '§3.1-796.124' in the bill. To read how RICO
> works, go to:
>
> http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-512
>
> and use the 'next' in the upper right corner of your screen to get
> through the rest of it. Here's the fun part -- section 515:
>
> > § 18.2-515. Criminal penalties; forfeiture.
> >
> > A. Any person or enterprise convicted of engaging in activity in
> > violation of the provisions of § 18.2-514 is guilty of a felony
> > punishable by imprisonment for not less than five years nor more
> > than 40 years and a fine of not more than $1 million. A second or
> > subsequent offense shall be punishable as a Class 2 felony and a
> > fine of not more than $2 million.
> >
> > The court may order any such person or enterprise to be divested of
> > any interest in any enterprise or real property identified in §
> > 18.2-514; order the dissolution or reorganization of such
> > enterprise; and order the suspension or revocation of any license,
> > permit, or prior approval granted to such enterprise or person by
> > any agency of the Commonwealth or political subdivision thereof.
> >
> > B. All property, real or personal, including money, used in
> > substantial connection with, intended for use in the course of, or
> > traceable to, conduct in violation of any provision of § 18.2-514 is
> > subject to civil forfeiture to the Commonwealth. The forfeiture
> > proceeding shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter
> > 22.1 (§ 19.2-386.1 et seq.) of Title 19.2.
>
> The bottom line is that should this bill pass, a first conviction for
> dog fighting could be punished by a felony conviction, not less than
> five years in prison, a fine of up to $1,000,000, and forfeiture of
> any property either used in connection with dog fighting or shown to
> have been paid for with the proceeds of dog fighting. The class of
> felony in this case is not stated.
>
> A second conviction ups the anti to a class 2 felony and a fine of not
> more than $2,000,000.
>
> For comparison, the punishment for uncomplicated rape is imprisonment
> for not less than five years, no fine, no forfeiture. Murder that
> isn't premeditated or one of a long list of special cases (mostly
> involving officials, terrorism, or commission of another crime) is a
> class 2 felony, punished by imprisonment for twenty years to life and
> a fine of up to $100,000. Attempted murder (not premeditated or
> otherwise as above) would be a class 4 felony, punishable by
> imprisonment for two to ten years and a fine of up to $100,000.
>
> In practice dog fighting RICO would play out in one of the following
> three ways:
>
> 1. Authorities may tell dog fighters "Get the hell out of here. We
> didn't see anything. Better not let us catch you again." There are
> good ol' boy sheriffs and cops in many places around the U.S. and this
> type of person may not be willing to ruin someone's life (and his
> family) for dog fighting.
>
> 2. Arrests may be made and the Commonwealth's Attorney (Virginia's
> term for prosecutor) may say "Okay, you got your choice: Plead guilty
> to a charge of dog fighting or I'm going to charge you under the RICO
> statute." If you can be convicted of dog fighting and you were one of
> group of three or more individuals associated for the purpose of doing
> so, your chance of beating RICO charges is about zilch, so you'd be
> wise to take the plea.
>
> 3. Charges of dog fighting are brought but the ARs mount a letter
> writing campaign for use of RICO. Commonwealth's Attorneys are
> elected officials: They don't stand up well to such campaigns.
>
> Despite what Wayne Pacelle would like us to believe, dog fighting is a
> small-time activity by small time people, mostly rural, and mostly not
> criminals in any larger sense. It simply isn't on the same scale with
> offenses like rape and attempted murder. Under existing Virginia law
> it is already a class 6 felony, punishable by one to five years
> imprisonment or (if tried without a jury) a jail term of up to 12
> months and/or a fine of up to $2500.
>
> Watch what happens where laws like this pass and start to be used.
> EVERY such charge will force the accused to sell his house and hire a
> top criminal defense lawyer who will drag the state through it for
> months, using every trick. Does a million dollars in tax money to
> convict and carry out the sentence on a dog fighter who had an annual
> income of $22,000 seem reasonable to you?
>
> These penalties will be good for HSUS revenues ("See what we've done
> to combat dog fighting -- Help us do even more! SEND MONEY!") but not
> for anything else, and certainly not for any dogs.
>
> If I had my 'druthers I'd make dog fighting just like a parking ticket
> -- not a criminal offense at all, unless you're an organizer. First
> offense of attending, a fine of $1000; first offense of participating,
> a fine of $5000. Organizers get a misdemeanor conviction as well, with
> jail time up to 12 months and a fine of not less than $10,000 or more
> than $100,000. Such punishments are likely to be used, they're cheap
> to carry out, and they'll get the message across.
>
> And they don't put dog fighting on the same level with murder and
> rape, either -- a notion that citizens should find revolting.
>
> Note that some of what Michael Vick was accused of was clearly animal
> cruelty. We have separate penalties (including a felony) to cover
> those cases.
>
> This bill has 'HSUS' stamped all over it. We'll be seeing it all
> across the U.S. over the next couple of years.
>
> Walt Hutchens
> Timbreblue Whippets
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