Posted on 11/23/2005 7:40:46 AM PST by indcons
Nov. 23, 2005 — An Ohio woman will spend a night in the woods without water, food or entertainment as part of her punishment for abandoning 35 kittens.
Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A. Cicconetti handed down the sentence on Nov. 17 to Michelle M. Murray, 25. On Sept. 19, park rangers found the kittens abandoned in two parks in Mentor, Ohio. Many of the kittens had upper respiratory infections and nine later died. They were traced back to Murray because they were wearing identification collars.
"How would you like to be dumped off at a metro park late at night, spend the night listening to the coyotes coming up you, 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," Cicconetti asked the defendant.
Murray, a mother of three children and two stepchildren, said the kittens were left on her doorstep by a stranger and the local Humane Society refused to help. The Humane Society disputes that claim.
Cicconetti gave Murray a choice between 90 days in jail for domestic animal abandonment or 14 days in jail, 15 days under house arrest, a $3,200 donation to the Humane Society a $500 donation to the park rangers who found the kittens and one night alone in the woods.
Murray chose the latter. She will report to the local jail today, where a park ranger will take her to a remote location. She will be picked up again on Thanksgiving morning. Originally, Cicconetti said Murray was to have no food, reading material or entertainment devices and was to have only the clothes she wore — as many as she wanted — to keep her warm. Due to plunging temperatures, however, the judge said he may amend his orders and allow her to make a fire.
History of Crime-Appropriate Sentences
This isn't Cicconetti's first unusual sentence:
He has ordered a man who hollered "pigs" to police officers to stand on a street corner next to a 350-pound pig with a sign that read, "This is not a police officer."
After an 18-year old man stole some porn from an adult bookstore, the judge ordered him to sit outside the shop in a chair, wearing a blindfold, and holding a sign saying "See No Evil" so that passing traffic could see him.
Cicconetti punished a group of high school students who vandalized school buses by making them throw a picnic for a group of grade-school students whose outing was canceled because of the stunt.
A nanny accused of hitting a little boy with a belt was given a folder of articles on the consequences of child abuse, and compelled to read them all, and then discuss them with in the courtroom in front of the judge and the victim's mother, as spectators looked on. Afterwards, the mother agreed to no jail time for the nanny.
Effectiveness of Creative Sentencing
Cicconetti said he can remember just two people who have been sentenced to alternative punishments and reoffended.
One of them was a man who ran from the police and was offered a reduced jail sentence if he agreed to train for a five mile race. The man stayed in shape, and a few months later, he grabbed a woman's purse and ran with it.
Cicconetti said he began offering creative sentencing when he was getting lots of cases of people speeding in school zones. Eventually he got sick of it, and thought why not force these people to confront the danger they are creating?
He offered violators a choice: Have their license suspended for 90 days, or have it suspended for a shorter period and spend one day working as a crossing guard. He said those violators who spent a day shepherding schools kids across the street never appeared in his courtroom for speeding again, even if they previously had multiple offenses.
Cicconetti eventually expanded his creative sentencing to other crimes, but stressed he offers them rarely and never as punishment for a violent offense.
He has ordered a man who hollered "pigs" to police officers to stand on a street corner next to a 350-pound pig with a sign that read, "This is not a police officer."
After an 18-year old man stole some porn from an adult bookstore, the judge ordered him to sit outside the shop in a chair, wearing a blindfold, and holding a sign saying "See No Evil" so that passing traffic could see him.
Cicconetti punished a group of high school students who vandalized school buses by making them throw a picnic for a group of grade-school students whose outing was canceled because of the stunt.
A nanny accused of hitting a little boy with a belt was given a folder of articles on the consequences of child abuse, and compelled to read them all, and then discuss them with in the courtroom in front of the judge and the victim's mother, as spectators looked on. Afterwards, the mother agreed to no jail time for the nanny.
Wow! Can Bush appoint this guy to the Supreme Court?
I like this judge. I would have sent her without food, water, shelter and minimal clothing- and no means of calling for help other than her voice.
"He has ordered a man who hollered "pigs" to police officers to stand on a street corner next to a 350-pound pig with a sign that read, "This is not a police officer.""
That's interesting - i think I remember cases from the seventies where giving someone the bird and calling someone a pig were declared free speech.
Of course in today Islam-sensitive world calling someone a pig is probably a felony hate crime.
He offered violators a choice: Have their license suspended for 90 days, or have it suspended for a shorter period and spend one day working as a crossing guard.He said those violators who spent a day shepherding schools kids across the street never appeared in his courtroom for speeding again, even if they previously had multiple offenses.
Excellent!
While I like this judge's approach to justice, I wonder how putting animals in the wild is a crime. I know it's sad, but if the alternative is to turn them into county services where they will be euthanized... I mean at least in the woods they had a fighting chance. Maybe?
I don't know about this.
"Of course in today Islam-sensitive world calling someone a pig is probably a felony hate crime."
I'm afraid you may be right.
I love cats and kittens, but how is abandoning kittens a crime?>>>>>>>>>
Violation of the anti-littering laws?
Potentially a death sentence over some cats?
Beheading would be the preferred punishment, no doubt.
I once saw a judge deny an annulment of a young couples marriage for 90 days. It was obvious that the couples problems came from outside the marriage so the judge slapped restraining orders on both sets of families so the couple could try to work things out without interference.
A punishment that fits the crime.
God help the judge if she gets injured out there, though.
Wow! no 1st amendment right for this judge. What an IDIOT!
That's bad.
I guess it's okay for a "judge" to mete out these types of sentences......but not okay for parents to do it to their children for punishment......i.e., the couple who got tapped for child abuse ...by making their kid stand on a street corner with a sign because she wouldn't do her homework.
Domestic kittens have a fighting chance when left in the wild?
I don't think so.
Even the young of wild animals have high mortality rates, and that's with a woods-wise parent to raise them.
At the shelter, kittens have the best chance of being adopted, more so then adult animals.
If not, isn't a quick shot and simply going to sleep more humane then freezing, starving, and dehydrating to death?
Forget the fire, judge. The kittens didn't have it, and I think she should have the ENTIRE "abandoned in the woods" experience.
Good one!
I'm guessing that if she had turned a bunch of kittens loose there would have been no crime involved, but there is probably some legal responsibility that comes with registering pets in her name (complete with collars and tags).
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