LETTER/ Justice For Puppy Baked Alive In Oven in Georgia

9/10/06 - Justice For Puppy Baked Alive In Oven

KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN
http://www.KinshipCircle.org
SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Brothers Charged With Torturing, Killing Puppy http://www.wsbtv.com/news/9796419/detail.html
Police: Teens Bake Puppy in Oven
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84347
DA Office Contact Information From:
http://www.atlantada.org/contactus/index.htm
PETITION: Seeking Felony Indictment for Puppy's Torturous Death http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/564805100
Animal abuse cases are TIME-SENSITIVE--depending upon the nature of a crime as well as court dates. To check the status of a case, search the Animal Abuse Crime Database for updates. Many animal cruelty cases (but not all) are on file here:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/database/
Also check National Court Watch about upcoming cases:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/courtwatch.php

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SAMPLE LETTER Feel free to use portions of our letter, but please add some original thoughts. Hundreds of identical letters may lessen the impact. =====================================================
Paul Howard Jr., DA,
Fulton County District Attorney Fulton County District Attorneys Office
136 Pryor Street, SW, Third Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303
ph: 404-730-4981;
fax: 404-730-4785
email: nicole.vaughn@co.fulton.ga.us

The Honorable Sonny Perdue,
Governor State of Georgia,
State Capitol Atlanta, Georgia 30334
ph: 404-656-1776; fax: 404-657-7332 web email: http://www.gov.state.ga.us/contact_dom.shtml

Dear District Attorney Howard and Governor Perdue,

I am very troubled by the case of Justin, 17, and Joshua Moulder, 18, the Atlanta brothers charged with burglary, criminal damage to property and felony aggravated cruelty to animals.

Last month, the teens vandalized a newly renovated recreation center at an apartment complex. They brought a five-month-old puppy along. They doused the dog in paint, hog-tied his feet, duct taped his mouth, and attempted to burn him alive. When flames didn't kill the still alert puppy, they baked him to death inside an oven. The brothers even boasted about their act of violence to peers.

Brutality without remorse rarely occurs in isolated pieces. More often, teenage "pranks" that victimize animals form a pattern of aggression. I commend the Fulton County District Attorneys Office for recognizing the gravity of this case. I urge uncompromising prosecution, with the maximum five-year prison sentence and $15,000 fine allowed under present Cruelty Statues of Georgia (16-12-4. Cruelty to animals).

Please stipulate psychiatric evaluation, and mandatory counseling for these troubled youths. They should also be barred from owning or harboring animals in any context.

I fully support Mr. Howard's call for even tougher felony penalties for offenders who "knowingly and maliciously cause death or physical harm to an animal by rendering a part of such animal's body useless, or by seriously disfiguring such animal."

Inez Marshal, community association president at the Englewood Manor Apartments, claims she'll never forget the mutilated puppy she found in the oven.

Indeed, this haunting imprint ought to serve as a red flag. Randall Lockwood, Ph.D., a frequent consultant to cruelty investigators, law enforcers, court officials and mental health professionals, assesses an offender's distinct style of animal abuse. Among qualities outlined in his "Factors in the Assessment of Dangerousness in Perpetrators of Animal Cruelty," Lockwood cites violence against non-threatening creatures as a precursor to assaulting vulnerable victims such as children, the elderly or disabled. Few creatures are more helpless than a puppy. It is the intensity of this crime that demands your attention. In particular, young males with a history of parental neglect/abuse may vent feelings of powerlessness upon innocent animals.

Columbine High School shooter Eric Harris, 18, smashed the heads of mice and set them on fire.

Washington D.C. serial killer Lee Boyd Malvo killed stray cats with a slingshot.
Kip Kinkle blew up a cow and burned a live cat before he shot 25 classmates and murdered his parents in Oregon.

Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson, both 13, brutalized dogs before killing five people in an Arkansas school rampage.

Luke Woodham, 16, mortally stabbed his mother and shot nine students. He later confessed to pouring lighter fluid down his dog Sparkle’s throat and setting fire to her neck.

Please do not let Justin and Joshua Moulder hurt another living being.