St. Paul man who 'accidentally' threw kitten against wall is ch...

[Penny]

Before I say anymore, I love cats, have two of them and they get treated better than some people. But reality says, this guy is being charged with a felony in MN. For almost killing a kitten. While in Stillwater a slimeball mortgage broker supplied alcohol to his daughters friends at parties and then sexually assaults two of them.
He gets charged with a misdemeanor. Whoa....doesn't anyone else see something wrong here. I realize also that this kitten abuser has some serious anger issues, ie domestic abuse just around the corner, but since MN grandstands equal justice as reasoning for their mandatory guidelines, this is a joke. Another instance,
a sheriff deputy in training makes an illegal turn, kills a innocent motorcyclist and gets a misdemeanor charge, no jail time, and keeps working as a deputy. No justice for the victims family. His only crime was being on the road at the same time as the incompetent deputy. 200+ comments on the kitten story.....19 comments on the Broker story....0 comments on the Deputy story. If MN keeps prosecuting people for animal cruelty more severely than for assaulting, maiming or killing people, how safe are all of you going to feel in 6 months or a year from now?

[ThaLeena from St Paul]

Penny wrote:

Before I say anymore, I love cats, have two of them and they get treated better than some people. But reality says, this guy is being charged with a felony in MN. For almost killing a kitten. While in Stillwater a slimeball mortgage broker supplied alcohol to his daughters friends at parties and then sexually assaults two of them.
He gets charged with a misdemeanor. Whoa....doesn't anyone else see something wrong here. I realize also that this kitten abuser has some serious anger issues, ie domestic abuse just around the corner, but since MN grandstands equal justice as reasoning for their mandatory guidelines, this is a joke. Another instance,
a sheriff deputy in training makes an illegal turn, kills a innocent motorcyclist and gets a misdemeanor charge, no jail time, and keeps working as a deputy. No justice for the victims family. His only crime was being on the road at the same time as the incompetent deputy. 200+ comments on the kitten story.....19 comments on the Broker story....0 comments on the Deputy story. If MN keeps prosecuting people for animal cruelty more severely than for assaulting, maiming or killing people, how safe are all of you going to feel in 6 months or a year from now?

Incompetent deputy??? Let's not forget that is the law, and if you don't like it, then work to change it. The deputy was treated no differently that average joe citizen who would have made same traffic offence. Traffic accidents occurr all the time, and people die from them. Every single day in every singel state in every single country. Big difference than someone intentionally slamming a kitten against a wall, causing it's head to be crushed and it to die. I would think that even you could understand that.

[Penny]

And the broker in Stillwater, that was an accident too? Or does the excuse I was drunk cover any and all indiscretions? I'm not saying an animal abuser doesn't deserve to be charged and in the case of extreme cruelty a felony is warranted. But to not charge people crimes as seriously is just plain sick.

[Derek]

Penny wrote:

And the broker in Stillwater, that was an accident too? Or does the excuse I was drunk cover any and all indiscretions? I'm not saying an animal abuser doesn't deserve to be charged and in the case of extreme cruelty a felony is warranted. But to not charge people crimes as seriously is just plain sick.

Penny, you do make a good point - while I've got 2 cats as well, I also have 2 very young daughters. At the same time, consider that A: violent, psychotic behavior (again, NOT the same thing as hunting or working in meat processing)exhibited in an unprovoked manner against animals is overwhelmingly considered a warning sign for violence against people.
B: It's clear that this disparity in the law is upsetting for you...and hopefully that's the impetus to get out and work for change. If you google "Wisconsin Senate" and "Wisconsin House of Representatives" (assuming that you live in WI as well as have an IP coming from that state) you will find quick and easy ways to contact lawmakers. Things won't change unless we make it an issue.

[Peter]

Sarah wrote:

<quoted text>
He did this to terrorize his girlfriend. Do you really want to wait until he throws the baby against the wall?

I hear you, but we typically don't arrest people preemptively either.

[whatever]

jpberka in Saint Paul wrote:

Hey... "Praise to God," For starters, you have no idea what you're talking about. Let's review:
1) This man isn't the head of a household but an unmarried baby daddy trying to dominate his girlfriend.
2) If you believe in God as you claim, your beliefs would tell you that no loving God would ever find anything other than deep sin in the killing of an innocent animal by slamming it against the wall.
3) If you believe in nothing else but what you say, it is all trumped by the fact that the cat did not belong to him OR to her but to the neighbor. Thus, it was not his to kill. If he had slammed my cat against a wall, he'd have received some baseball bat justice.

amen

[Derek]

Peter wrote:

<quoted text>
I hear you, but we typically don't arrest people preemptively either.

Isn't making threats or intimidation through violence a crime though?

[WTF]

Message to "Praise to God":

Save it for church, honey. No one here wants to hear about your "man is head of the household" crap. That went out with your knickers!

[Peter]

Derek wrote:

<quoted text>
Isn't making threats or intimidation through violence a crime though?

Yep, sure is, and it's a crime against a person besides.

[no such thing as freedom]

Penny wrote:

Before I say anymore, I love cats, have two of them and they get treated better than some people. But reality says, this guy is being charged with a felony in MN. For almost killing a kitten. While in Stillwater a slimeball mortgage broker supplied alcohol to his daughters friends at parties and then sexually assaults two of them.
He gets charged with a misdemeanor. Whoa....doesn't anyone else see something wrong here. I realize also that this kitten abuser has some serious anger issues, ie domestic abuse just around the corner, but since MN grandstands equal justice as reasoning for their mandatory guidelines, this is a joke. Another instance,
a sheriff deputy in training makes an illegal turn, kills a innocent motorcyclist and gets a misdemeanor charge, no jail time, and keeps working as a deputy. No justice for the victims family. His only crime was being on the road at the same time as the incompetent deputy. 200+ comments on the kitten story.....19 comments on the Broker story....0 comments on the Deputy story. If MN keeps prosecuting people for animal cruelty more severely than for assaulting, maiming or killing people, how safe are all of you going to feel in 6 months or a year from now?

Right on Penny - you stated good fact here and the sentcing guidelines are very skwed - while this offender has been charged, he has not been senteced so we will see what kind of sentence he really gets

[Derek]

Peter wrote:

<quoted text>
Yep, sure is, and it's a crime against a person besides.

So would you then agree that this guy was intimidating and/or threatening his pregnant girlfriend through this act? And if you do, should he thus not be eligible for some time in the klink?

[Kacy]

@Itolduso: you might want to spell check as well. I think you meant LOSER (not LOOSER). How funny. Idiots.

[Peter]

Derek wrote:

<quoted text>
So would you then agree that this guy was intimidating and/or threatening his pregnant girlfriend through this act? And if you do, should he thus not be eligible for some time in the klink?

That's where you'd have to look for a crime. Personification of animals is barking up the wrong tree. But try telling people that their dogs or cats aren't their "babies" as some of these posts say. Serial killers might start off harming animals, but lonely old ladies get started thinking cats are people.

[Protected Pets]

In America we take better care of our pets than we do our own species. We have homeless in almost every town and our elderly rotting in their own excrement in nursing homes. The animals?? Nice warm beds and someone to walk them and spend time with them everyday. The grand illusion, the pets are well taken care, so certainly humans are too!!! The fact is that it is cheaper to carry on this ruse than it is to take care of our less fortunate. It is all economics. And a lie.

[Saint Paul]

Scott comes from a family of losers and as far Jennifer she herself was and maybe still is a meth head.He has always been crazy.

[Sarah]

Protected Pets wrote:

In America we take better care of our pets than we do our own species. We have homeless in almost every town and our elderly rotting in their own excrement in nursing homes. The animals?? Nice warm beds and someone to walk them and spend time with them everyday. The grand illusion, the pets are well taken care, so certainly humans are too!!! The fact is that it is cheaper to carry on this ruse than it is to take care of our less fortunate. It is all economics. And a lie.

Pets give you unconditional love. Humans stab you in the back.

That's why a lot of people care more for their pets than they do for many other people.

[Bob]

All pets don't give "unconditional love"!

Just about daily there is an attack on a human by a dog, shark, lion etc etc.

All people don't stab you in the back!

I would admit there seems to be a trend of that in Minneapolis and Coon Rapids recently.

==========

Sarah wrote:

<quoted text>
Pets give you unconditional love. Humans stab you in the back.
That's why a lot of people care more for their pets than they do for many other people.

[Sarah]

Bob wrote:

All pets don't give "unconditional love"!
Just about daily there is an attack on a human by a dog, shark, lion etc etc.
All people don't stab you in the back!
I would admit there seems to be a trend of that in Minneapolis and Coon Rapids recently.
==========
<quoted text>

Well pets who aren't abused give you unconditional love.

I don't know anyone who has a shark or a lion for a PET. Sharks and lions are not domesticated animals. They're wild animals and even if trained they continue to be wild animals. That's why they don't make good pets.

People who have exotic undomesticated animals for pets are just asking for trouble. But then a lot of people are stupid.

[Peter]

Sarah wrote:

<quoted text>
Pets give you unconditional love. Humans stab you in the back.
That's why a lot of people care more for their pets than they do for many other people.

Animals don't "love", people love. But the rest of it sounds reasonable. People that have trouble with people often do seem to take better care of animals than other people. I've seen childless people with dog pictures all over their office. They refer to them as their "children" and some of these people don't seem to be kidding. I'm sorry for their disappointment, but that doesn't transform a dog into a child or give a dog the capacity for love. Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" thought a soccer ball was a person too.

[ZenBirdist]

Peter wrote:

<quoted text>
Animals don't "love", people love. But the rest of it sounds reasonable. People that have trouble with people often do seem to take better care of animals than other people. I've seen childless people with dog pictures all over their office. They refer to them as their "children" and some of these people don't seem to be kidding. I'm sorry for their disappointment, but that doesn't transform a dog into a child or give a dog the capacity for love. Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" thought a soccer ball was a person too.

Peter, since there isn't a clinically quantifiable definition of "love" let alone a way to prove or disprove that a cat/dog is feeling it, let's go with your assertion that they do not.

Perhaps what is more important than defining what it is the animal is feeling, is recognizing the feelings that the human has for that the pet.

As we are exposed to more and more human acts of atrocity and breaches of trust (on the news, on the web, on the radio, in our pop culture) it's no wonder that people are turning toward animals for 'unconditional love'.

Your reference to Wilson the soccer ball is kind of comical, because you're comparing athletic equipment to sentient beings. It's not even an 'apples & oranges' comparison; it's more of an 'apples & furniture' comparison, lol.