Alert 3/21/07
Many of you are aware
of the animal abuse case of last month in
It is appropriate that every person reading this get involved now.
There were many reports about the case. One of them is at the end of this alert. Please read it.
This is what I understand
is involved:
1. Robert Carini has been charged under 3.1-796.122 which covers animal cruelty.
This is case # C 072166 & 67
2. On Tuesday, 4/3/07, at 11:30 am, there will be a preliminary hearing for Mr. Carini who will be represented by a Public Defender.
NOTE: This is a new time and
date.
3. The hearing will be at the General
District Court in
The court is
located at
The phone is 540-463-3631.
4. The Judge who will hear the case is Hon. Gordon F. Saunders.
He can receive letters at the
NOTE: There is no email address for Judge Saunders available to the public.
5. On 3/30, Judge Saunders will listen to the evidence.
NOTE: The Judge will not take comments from those in the audience.
6. The Asst. Commonwealth Attorney, Lawrence Muir, will prosecute the case.
Mr. Muir’s phone is 540-463-7337.
Your comments can be mailed
to Mr. Muir at 17 Court
7. With sufficient evidence, this case may be “certified” to go to the Grand Jury.
8. The Grand Jury is scheduled to meet on 5/7/07, and if this case gets to the Grand Jury, the case will be “set”, and a trial date announced.
NOTE: This step on 5/7 is not open to the public although the trial will be.
9. The Commonwealth Attorney for Lexington/Rockbridge is Robert N. Joyce. He phone is the same as Mr. Muir’s.
Your comments can be mailed to Mr. Joyce at the Court House Square address above, or sent by email to: Bjoyce@lexrock.ca.net
This is what I ask you to
do:
1. Come to the hearing in
2. Before the hearing, be in touch with the Judge, with Asst. Commonwealth Attorney Lawrence Muir, and with Mr. Muir’s supervisor, Commonwealth Attorney Robert N. Joyce.
a. Contact by US mail, by email, by fax, or by phone. (Contact information is above.)
b. Ask that Mr. Carini be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
c. Ask that he be prevented from owning companion animals for the remainder of his life.
d. Ask what can be done regarding the owner of the animals and any complicity she may have had in the case.
3. Write letters to the editor:
a. Write a letter to the editor of
the local
News Gazette in
Darryl Woodson editor@thenews-gazette.com
Rockbridge Weekly
Jerry E. Clark jerry@chartwellcorp.com
b. Write a letter to your own local paper describing this situation briefly, say you have asked for the maximum penalties, and should the same situation come up locally, you will ask for the maximum penalty.
4. Contact city/county officials:
a. Contact the Lexington City Mayor and the Lexington City Council, thanking them for being ready to support animal cruelty laws locally.
Mayor John Knapp
Tim Golden, Council Member & Vice Mayor
Frank Friedman, Council Member
Mimi Elrod, Council Member
Jim Gianniny, Council Member
Jack Page, Council Member
Ron smith, Council Member
b. Contact your own city or county officials, telling them that you would expect maximum punishment for animal cruelty when it happens locally.
5. Contact state officials:
a. Contact the state delegate and
senator representing
Sen. Emmett W. Hanger
540-885-7440
Del. Ben Cline
877-946-9908
b. Contact your own state delegate and senator, and tell them you will expect them to support and enforce maximum punishment for animal cruelty when it happens locally.
NOTE: Please consider here voicing your own goals for your delegate and senator re: animal cruelty laws. Perhaps you ask for them to be more stringent. Perhaps you mention that VVAW is addressing animal welfare issues generally, and specifically asked for and received a modest increase in abuse penalties last session, but failed to win support for cockfighting and dogfighting bills.
6. Contact ACOs:
a. Contact Charles (Chuck) Hurley, the ACO for
Charles Hurley, ACO - Special Enforcement Officer
540-462-3759
LexPD1528@yahoo.com
b. Contact your own ACOs and let them know you will support them as they enforce the animal abuse laws just as you’ve supported the Lexington ACO, and that you expect them to enforce laws to the maximum.
c. Contact Kevin Kilgore, President of VACA (Virginia Animal Control Association) and ask that VACA give recognition to the case and this ACO, Mr. Hurley.
Kevin Kilgore
President, VACA and Chief, Animal Control,
804-365-6485
fax: 804-365-6488
Watch for a trial date to be announced by the Grand Jury, but remember that this may not get to the Grand Jury unless there is sufficient contact made with the Judge and Commonwealth Attorneys.
In each contact you make, include your name and address. It would also be appropriate to indicate you are part of VVAW (Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare).
Let us know what you do.
Let us know the response you receive.
Lillian Clancy/Don Marro
Local man charged with fracturing
dog's skull, breaking its neck
by Scott Leamon/Matt
Dooley
WSLS NewsChannel
10
Thursday, March 1,
2007
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Robert Carini was in the
Rockbridge Regional Jail as of late Thursday night. He is charged with two
counts of felony animal abuse which caused a veterinarian to euthanize both
animals.
Police said in court
records both dogs belonged to Carini's girlfriend, who has been cleared of any
wrongdoing in the case.
Lexington-area vet, Dr.
Martha Tubman, saw the first dog, a
She said the dog, a
female, couldn't stand by herself, was covered in her own feces and urine, and
had one eye hanging from its socket.
Dr. Tubman said it looked
as if the eye had been that way for at least 24 hours.
She said the dog lived in
a crate with minimal food and water.
"The water that was in
the cage," Dr. Tubman said, "I guess from the trauma to the eye was a bloody
slim. It was the most disgusting thing."
Tubman said she had to
put down the second dog on February 24th after police brought it, also a female
chihuahua, to her office in a coma.
The second dog's x-rays
are the ones shown below.
Carini is due in
Rockbridge County General District Court on March 30th.
Living in