Let’s say she was convicted. You’re the judge. What sentence would you hand down?
If, God willing, the Animal Legal Defense Fund receive the court documents in this matter from the prosecutor and if they are able to conclude that there is a case to answer and she is duly charged, convicted and sentenced, what crime-appropriate sentence would suit her crime?
I am temped to ask because back in 2005 Judge Michael A Cicconetti (an Ohio judge), made a very nice crime-appropriate sentence which was well suited the crime of domestic animal abandonment.
The convicted defendant was 25-year-old Michelle M Murray. She had abandoned 35 kittens in two parks in Mentor, Ohio.
Park rangers knew that she was responsible because she had left identification collars on the kittens (weird).
The judge gave the convict two options for a sentence:
- Spend 90 days in jail or
- Spend 14 days in jail and spend 15 days under house arrest and donate $3,200 to the Humane Society and donate $500 to the park rangers and (here is the fun bit): spend one night alone in the woods!
The judge said to the convicted defendant:
“How would you like to be dumped off at a metro park late at night, spend the night listening to the coyotes … , listening to the raccoons around you in the dark night, and sit out there in the cold not knowing where you’re going to get your next meal, not knowing when you are going to be rescued?”
Perfect, I’d say. This particular judge is well-known for “crime appropriate sentences” and he has an imagination!
Do you have imagination with respect to Kristen Lindsey?
I have the same feelings. If someone hurt my cat I’d want to kill them! I’d be violent. It is seems strange that there are millions of people like you and I and yet there are also millions like Lindsey. Why is the world so divided? And why are there are so many nasty people?