----- Original Message -----

From: "Diana Artemis" <Artemisd123@hotmail.com>

To: <FriendsOfAnimals@mail.com>

Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 9:06 AM

Subject: [VeganWay] More Letters Needed to New York District Attorney re: Rabbit Torture

 

More Letters Needed to New York District Attorney re: Rabbit Torture & Wrongful Deaths

Unfortunately New York's felony cruelty to animals provision cannot apply because the rabbits were kept as a "food source" and cannot be defined as "companion animals."

We can, however, urge the prosecutor's office to charge the Loversos with felonies for animal fighting. As specified by Article 26 of New York's Agriculture and Markets laws (§ 351), it is a felony to "[cause] any animal to engage in animal fighting … [f]or amusement," and to permit [such
activity] … to occur on premises under [one's] control." The Loversos reportedly did both.

The more letters the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office receives, the more likely they will either a) file these additional charges or b) submit the case before the Grand Jury for felony animal fighting indictments.

SAMPLE LETTER:  Remember to add your name and address and change some of the words.  PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY AND WRITE TODAY!  ***Note: if you don't include the attachment at the bottom of the letter, be sure to DELETE paragraph #4.
=====================================================================================================================================================TO:
The Honorable Thomas Spota
Suffolk County District Attorney
Suffolk County District Attorney's Office
Building #77 N County Complex
Hauppauge, NY 11787
Fax: 631-853-5117

Copies of all letters should be sent to the assistant prosecutor
assigned to this case:

Mr. Jeff Langlan, Assistant District Attorney
Suffolk County District Attorney's Office
400 Carleton Ave.
Central Islip, NY 11722
Fax: 631-853-5844

RE: Prosecution of the Loversos with Felonies for Animal Fighting per
Article 26 of New York's Agriculture and Markets laws (§ 351)

Dear District Attorney Spota:

It is unfortunate the the vicious cruelty to rabbits by the Loversos family
cannot be prosecuted under New York's felony companion animal cruelty laws. 
It was especially heinous that they forced their children to watch and
ridiculed the animals as they were tortured to death.  This teaches a
terrible lesson to all involved and may well lead to psychiatric damage.

Due to the especially evil and cold-bloodedness of this crime, I ask you to
prosecute the Lovernos with felonies for animal fighting. As specified by
Article 26 of New York's Agriculture and Markets laws (§ 351), it is a
felony to "[cause] any animal to engage in animal fighting … [f]or
amusement," and to permit [such activity] … to occur on premises under
[one's] control." The Loversos reportedly did both.

Mental health professionals and top law-enforcement officials consider
cruelty
to animals a precursor to violent crimes against humans. The American
Psychiatric Association identifies animal cruelty as one of the diagnostic
criteria for conduct disorders, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI)
uses reports of animal cruelty in analyzing the threat potential of
suspected
and known criminals. Experts agree that it is the severity of the behavior —
not the species of victim — that must be taken into account.

As the trail of sad examples below shows, and recent violence across our
country attest to; it is time to send a clear message to people capable of
intentionally inflicting serious injury or death to helpless animals, that
such
brutal and senseless crimes will not be tolerated and there are guaranteed
consequences for those who would show such disdain for the law.

Due to the serious nature of this case, and the fact that children were
forced to witness this callous abuse, I ask you to either press additional
felony animal fighting charges or submit the case before the Grand Jury for
felony animal fighting indictments; and please provide psychological
counseling to the children involved as well as mandatory psychiatric
treatment for the adult Laversos family members.

Sincerely yours,



ATTACHMENT: ANIMAL VICTIMS / HUMAN VICTIMS:
REPORTS FROM POLICE CASE FILES

Russell Weston Jr., tortured and killed 12 cats: burned and cut off their
tails, paws, ears; poured toxic chemicals in their eyes to blind them;
forced
them to ingest poison, hung them from trees (the noose loose enough to
create a
slow and painful death.) Later killed 2 officers at the U.S. Capitol in
Washington, DC.

Jeffery Dahmer staked cats to trees and decapitated dogs. Later he dissected
boys, and kept their body parts in the refrigerator. Murdered 17 men.

Kip Kinkle shot 25 classmates and killed several in Springfield, Oregon. He
killed his father and mother. Said he blew up a cow once. Set a live cat on
fire and dragged the innocent creature through the main street of town.
Classmates rated him as "Most Likely to Start World War 3."

As a boy, Albert De Salvo, the "Boston Strangler," placed a dog and cat in a
crate with a partition between them. After starving the animals for days, he
removed the partition to watch them kill each other. He raped and killed 13
women by strangulation. He often posed bodies in a shocking manner after
their
murders.

Richard Allen Davis set numerous cats on fire. He killed all of Polly Klaus'
animals before abducting and murdering Polly Klaus, aged 12, from her
bedroom.

11-year-old Andrew Golden and 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson tortured and
killed
dogs. On March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Golden and Johnson shot
and killed 4 students and 1 teacher during a fire drill at their school.

After 16-year-old Luke Woodham mortally stabbed his mother, killed 2
classmates and shot 7 others, he confessed to bludgeoning his dog Sparkle
with
baseball bats and pouring liquid fuel down her throat and to set fire to her
neck. "I made my first kill today," he wrote in his court-subpoenaed
journal.
"It was a loved one...I¹ll never forget the howl she made. It sounded almost
human." In June 1998, Woodham was found guilty of 3 murders and 7 counts of
aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 3 life sentences and an additional
20
years for each assault.

Theodore Robert Bundy, executed in 1989 for at least 50 murders, was forced
to
witness a grandfather who tortured animals. Bundy later heaped graves with
animal bones.

At 4-years-old, Michael Cartier dislocated the legs of rabbits and hurled a
kitten through a closed window. He later shot Kristin Lardner 3 times in the
head, before shooting himself.

Henry Lee Lucas killed numerous animals and had sex with their corpses. He
killed his mother, common law wife, and an unknown number of people.

Edward Kemperer cut up 2 cats. He later killed his grandparents, mother and
7
other women.

Richard Speck threw a bird into a ventilator fan. Killed 8 women. Randy Roth
taped a cat to a car's engine and used an industrial sander on a frog.
Killed 2
of his wives and attempted to kill a third.

David Richard Davis shot and killed 2 healthy ponies, threw a wine bottle at
a
pair of kittens and hunted with illegal methods. Murdered his wife, Shannon
Mohr Davis, for insurance money.

Peter Kurten, the Dusseldorf Monster, tortured dogs, and practiced
bestiality
while killing animals. Murdered or attempted to murder over 50 men, women
and
children.

Richard Trenton Chase, "The Vampire Killer of Sacramento," bit the heads off
birds, drained animals for their blood, killed animals for their organs, and
later killed 6 people in random attacks. One police officer present at the
scene of the first murder, confessed to having nightmares about the crime
for
months afterwards.

"The Kobe Killer,² an as yet unnamed 15-year-old boy in Japan, beheaded a
cat
and strangled several pigeons. Decapitated 11-year-old Jun Hase, and
battered
to death a 10-year-old girl with a hammer, and assaulted 3 other children in
separate attacks.

Richard William Leonard's grandmother forced him to kill and mutilate cats
and
kittens when he was a child. He later killed Stephen Dempsey with a bow and
arrow. He also killed Ezzedine Bahmad by slashing his throat.

Tom Dillion murdered people's pets. He shot and killed Jamie Paxton, aged
21;
Claude Hawkins, aged 49; Donald Welling, aged 35; Kevin Loring, aged 30; and
Gary Bradely, aged 44.

At 9-years-old, Eric Smith strangled a neighbor's cat. At 13, he bludgeoned
4-
year-old Derrick Robie to death. Smith lured the little boy into the woods,
choked him, sodomized him with a stick, then beat him to death with a rock.

David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam," poisoned his mother's parakeet out of
jealousy.
He later shot 13 young men and women. 6 people died and at least 2 suffered
permanent disabilities.

Arthur Shawcross repeatedly threw a kitten into a lake until the kitten
drowned
from exhaustion. Killed a young girl. After serving 15-1/2 years in prison,
he
killed 11 more women.

Michael Perry decapitated a neighbor's dog. Later killed his parents, infant
nephew and 2 neighbors.

Jason Massey¹s killing resume began with cats and dogs; at 20 he decapitated
and disemboweled a 13-year-old girl and fatally shot a 14-year old boy. He
claims to have killed 37 cats, 29 dogs and 6 cows.

Patrick Sherrill stole neighborhood pets, tethered them with baling wire and
encouraged his dog to mutilate them. He killed 14 co-workers and himself in
1986.

Keith Hunter Jesperson, "Happy Face Killer," bashed gopher heads and beat,
strangled and shot stray cats and dogs. He is known to have strangled 8
women.
He said: "You're actually squeezing the life out of these animals...Choking
a
human being or a cat--it's the same feeling...I'm the very end result of
what
happens when somebody kills an animal at an early age."

Carroll Edward Cole, executed in 1985 for an alleged 35 murders and reputed
to
be one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, confessed that
his
first act of violence was to strangle a puppy under the porch of his house.

Robert Alton Harris murdered two 16-year-old boys, doused a neighbor with
lighter fluid and tossed matches at him. His initial run-in with police was
for
killing neighborhood cats.




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