Read more: Dog waits outside Boulder court as Abby Toll gets 30 days in jail for taping him to fridge
Posted on 07/09/2010 6:33:50 PM PDT by csvset
Abby Toll, who bound and taped an 11-pound puppy to the side of a fridge in her boyfriend's Boulder apartment last year, nearly came face to face with her victim Friday during a hearing in which a judge punished the former University of Colorado student with a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation.
A prosecutor in the case asked Boulder County District Judge Maria Berkenkotter if the curious and energetic shiba inu Toll targeted with hair ties and packing tape could make an appearance in court while his tormentor was sentenced.
The judge denied the request, saying only service animals are allowed in court. But she took Toll to task for carrying out what she described as a “senseless and cruel” series of actions against the helpless animal, known then as Rex.
Berkenkotter described to the court how Toll painstakingly bound Rex's snout, feet and tail with packing tape and hair ties, before adhering the animal to the fridge with more tape.
“He almost certainly must have struggled,” the judge intoned several times.
She ordered that Toll be taken immediately into custody. Handcuffed, Toll was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies as her mother and brother looked on, bringing to an end a bizarre case that attracted worldwide media attention and spawned a collection of Web sites condemning Toll.
Berkenkotter also ordered Toll to perform 200 hours of community service, pay $771 in restitution, and have no contact with animals while she is on probation – an order that prompted Toll to peer frantically over at her mother. Toll and her mother live with a dog in their Chicago home.
The judge credited Toll with two days credit for time already served in jail.
Just before she was escorted from the courtroom, Toll tearfully said she was “deeply sorry for what happened to Rex last year.”
“I am so ashamed,” she said. “There is no doubt that a horrible, bizarre thing happened in that apartment that night.”
She called herself an “animal lover” and said she kept Rex, who was adopted by a Castle Rock couple and renamed Yoshi, in her thoughts every day.
Toll was arrested on April 14, 2009 after police received a call of a domestic dispute at a Boulder apartment building. Inside the unit, they found an 8-month-old puppy struggling in a “tomb of tape” that had been stuck to the side of a refrigerator.
Toll admitted binding and attaching the dog to the fridge, saying she did it to get back at her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, for paying more attention to his dog than to her, according to police. She also accused Rex of biting her and acting aggressively toward her.
She was charged with felony animal cruelty. A jury found her guilty after a two-day trial in April, during which her previous attorney called no witnesses to the stand.
Prosecutor David Cheval said Toll, who faced up to 18 months in prison for the Class 6 felony conviction, should serve 90 days behind bars.
“We would like Ms. Toll to see what it's like to be confined like Yoshi, with no way to escape,” he said Friday.
Toll's lawyer, Joshua Maximon, asked for electronic home monitoring for his client and said she was the victim of a difficult childhood and a violent relationship with Beck, during which he once punched Toll in the face.
“She is a good person,” Maximon said. “This night didn't capture her in the way people know her.”
Toll's mother, Sherry, told the court that her daughter had grown up with pets and loved them dearly.
“Her history with animals is extraordinary,” she said. “Her real true love are dogs.”
Maximon told the court that Toll had struggled through her parents' bitter divorce when she was 8 years old and her father's death from cancer when she was 14.
He said she was sick and exhausted from treatment for a staph infection the morning Rex was taped to the fridge and that all she wanted to do was leave her boyfriend's apartment following a fight they had.
Beck didn't let her leave when she made several attempts to do so, Maximon said.
“He grabs her and rips her jacket as she is trying to get out of the window,” the lawyer said.
Beck was the one who actually bound the dog, Maximon said, and that his client simply stuck the animal up on the fridge. She lied to police about her role in the incident to protect her boyfriend, he said.
Cheval shot back that Toll's allegations about Beck were unfair and amounted to “character assassination” because Beck wasn't in court to defend himself.
Beck pleaded guilty last summer to misdemeanor attempted animal cruelty in the case and was given a one-year deferred sentence. Click on any photo to see full gallery
“He didn't do this. She did, and a jury found her guilty,” Cheval said. “She continues to make excuses, she continues to not take responsibility.”
The judge agreed.
“The court is concerned that Ms. Toll doesn't completely grasp the impact of her actions,” Berkenkotter said. “Ms. Toll showed no concern for Rex.”
But Berkenkotter noted that Toll had no criminal history and that family members and friends had written letters on her behalf saying her behavior last year was “out of character.”
Lisa Pearson, the other prosecutor on the case and the Boulder County District Attorney Office's animal cruelty liaison, said she was pleased that the judge decided to force Toll to spend some time behind bars.
“I think because of the methodical nature of what she did – spending time getting all the tools that she used for the torture – I think that's what really raises this to the level where jail is appropriate,” she said.
Shannnon Park, who with his wife now owns Yoshi, said the dog had nightmares for the first couple of weeks after coming off the fridge. He said Yoshi is fearful around people and other dogs he doesn't know and has had to have sessions with an animal behaviorist.
But he said he felt the sentence was fair and he hoped Toll would learn something from the incident.
“It's depressing to see a young woman make such a dramatic and sad choice in her life that will affect her profoundly,” Park said.
Read more: Dog waits outside Boulder court as Abby Toll gets 30 days in jail for taping him to fridge
Question: Did the doggie forgive the perp?
If so, what’s the beef?
Just asking.
Seems like a fair sentence. Dogs are the best.
Now about the White House-supported, ignorant savages advocating the murder of white babies.....
Seems like a fair sentence. Dogs are the best.
Now about the White House-supported, ignorant savages advocating the murder of white babies.....
I gotta side with the girl. This is a stupid sentence. They go free for abortion and tormenting husbands with poor judgment, feminism, selfishness, and immaturity but go to jail for this stupid sh1t.
Proof positive that the sh*t-eating psychopath should die soon, and painfully. Obviously beyond rehabilitation.
No matter what she or her mother says, she does not “love” animals. You cannot harm an animal in retribution for your boyfriend “paying more attention” to it than you, and love them.
I only feel sorry for any child she ever has.
Onto one more thing that ticks me off.
“I am so ashamed,” she said. “There is no doubt that a horrible, bizarre thing happened in that apartment that night”
A bizarre thing happened? It just sort of HAPPENED? Where was she? Staring into space while this horrible, bizarre thing just Happened? Was it the duct tape fairy?
I’ve heard these “non apologies” so many times from these creeps. They never say, I lost my temper, I did something wrong I really regret. They are always these “something happened” type of geez it just happened. The car must have driven itself and I regret it type of garbage.
You can practically beat a dog to death and it will still forgive you.
Had they been married and had children, the usual sordid tale of sexual abuse would no doubt be told by this manipulative, narcissistic woman, totally screwing up the kids and ruining the guy for life, all for a childish fit of pique.
Men in Boulder, Chicago or wherever she lands, remember her name. Do not enter into any sort of relationship with her, and for goodness sakes don't marry her. You'll get what you deserve if you do. They don't grow out of it. Note her shifting into third person when trying to sound remorseful.
wow - I had no idea they where that loyal!
thanks for info.
Depending on the dog, you can pretend to hit it once, and it will kill you...or you can kill it and it will still lick your face as it’s last dying gesture. So I reject your last comment.
I was a bit surprised to learn the new owner is married.
I do not believe for one second that this woman never hurt an animal before, that she “loved animals” as her mother said...this woman’s mother sounds like the mothers of killers ..”he was such a good boy and had turned his life around.”
There is not ONE person I know who has pets who under ANY kind of stress has or would do such a thing!
I believe this woman WAS abused as a child severely enough that she is very disturbed and acts like this under certain conditions.
People like her, according to all the research we have, usually have hurt or tortured animals as a child or teenager and are predisposed to moving on to hurting people ( in this case, probably when she has children). that is WHY we have such felony laws for this criminality...It is to avoid animal abuse, but also to find these people and hopefully use the legal system to get them to be mandated for intervention (ie anger classes, battery/abuse programs) to turn them around-—if that is possible!
the statistics bear out that these criminals can go on to becoming serial killers in some cases.
This woman and her mother and friends continue to minimize her behaviors as nothing more than an odd event for her..sort of like she had a bad hair day! THAt is also troubling.
Yes, nearly all of them will. There are a few breeds that can tend to be less than angelic after being affronted considerably less than this poor fellow was. I had a Dachshund in my childhood that held grudges. I've known a Border Collie or two that were capable of outright vindictiveness if they ever had reason to dislike you, and they never forgot.
Toll admitted binding and attaching the dog to the fridge, saying she did it to get back at her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, for paying more attention to his dog than to her, according to police. She also accused Rex of biting her and acting aggressively toward her.
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I seriously would put blame on the boyfriend. A dog that is a “one owner” type of dog would be easy to use against a girl and torment her with it. Purely for the fact that she was so angry at the dog i can’t help but think the boyfriend was using the dog as a tool against his girlfriend.
Besides, you idiots!, look at that girl. Any fag that would choose his dog over that is a dam freak. If it were me, the dog collar would be off the dog and on the girl in a heartbeat. The dog would be ghandi and the girl would learn to “roll over” before ten o’clock news.
Boulder is a bubble of Liberalism surrounded by reality. The community is certifiably whacko.
For instance, there are no pets, only animal companions. The place is run by FemiNazi and PETA types. Boulder accepts cougar in their back yards, even though one grabbed a boy while his father held his hand.
Boulder Dementia Syndrome is endemic. Perhaps from some as yet unidentified substance oozing from the UC Boulder campus into the water.
Snarking Boudler aside, the sad fact is that this female will now be unable to own a firearm to protect herself FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE ! ! !
How can what used to be seen as something that drunk college kids in the Animal House frat did be an excuse to remove a core Constitutional Guarantee for life?
‘Course she did make the decision to move to the Whacko’s Nest - but that seems a rather thin rationalization to remove her Second Amendment rights for life - unless one is commie impaired, as most of Boulder clearly is.
Reading the headline, I thought the dog was gonna confront the woman outside the courtroom or something.
It was a dog.
30 days for this, but no penalty exists if she offs her unborn kid.
Go find her and propose, mamelukesabre. You’ll find out.
You’re siding with someone who abused a helpless animal? NOOOOOO!!!
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