Florida Criminal Attorney Blog

After his friend's dog escaped through a fence, suffering a large gash on its chest, William Jones, Jr. thought the right thing to do was apply glue to the dog's wound. However, when the dog escaped through the same hole in the fence a second time, the gash worsened. This time, Jones is said to have nixed the glue and opted instead to perform an amateur surgery on the dog's wound.

Using a needle threaded with dental floss, Jones allegedly tried to stitch the dog's wound together after administering a muscle relaxant. To keep the dog from kicking and squirming, Jones allegedly applied a chloroform soaked rag to the dog's muzzle. The dog stopped breathing and died shortly thereafter.

Jones is presently facing two counts of felony animal abuse. Presumptively, he is being charged with one count for gluing the wound and a second count for trying to sew it up.

I wish I could explain some form of a brilliant legal strategy here, but Jones doesn't really have one. The only thing working for him, would be a lack of eye witness testimony. However, it is unclear whether or not Jones made any incriminating statements or gave a confession to detectives from the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Either way, lets face it - this guy is a complete moron. I am sure he will claim that he had good intentions and was trying to help the animal. But frankly, all he will do is reveal how intellectually challenged he is. Any argument by defense lawyers that he is mentally incompetent or insane likely lacks merit as well.

Jones' actions were not crazy, they were cruel.

While he may have tried to fix the dog's wounds, he did so without regard for the fact that he would likely kill or seriously maim the animal. There is little doubt that a Broward jury would sympathize with him or believe that he was acting altruistically.

If anything, the jury will sympathize with the dog and wonder why Jones didn't take the animal to the humane society or to a veterinarian - even if he did not have the money to pay for a vet's help. To pick up a needle and dental floss is just beyond the scope of anything a reasonable person would do.

Assuming he has no criminal history, Jones will likely be placed on probation and be forced to pay the dog's owner restitution for the value of the dog.

Pompano Beach, Florida resident, Deangelo Veus, was arrested for the 18th time on Saturday after trying to drown his mother's dogs. Accoridng to South Florida's CBS4.com, Veus forced his mother's terrier into a cage after choking it. He then forced his mother's pregnant miniature pincher into another cage.

After tying a line between the two cages and a cinder block, Veus pushed the two cages and cinder block into a lake. While the terrier was able to escape from its cage and swim to safety, the miniature pincher unfortunately drowned on scene.

Broward County Animal Control officers later retrieved the cages, the line, and the cinder block from the lake.

While animal cruelty can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a felony, there is no doubt that a felony will be filed for the death of the pregnant pincher. In all likelihood, prosecutors will file a second felony charge for the near dorwing of the terrier as well.

From a defense perspective, the two main issues in the case concern eye witness testimony and the existence of any admissible confessions. In the absence of eye witnesses or incriminating statements that are admissible in court, prosecutors may have a hard time obtaining a conviction - even though the alleged conduct is so offensive.

However, in the event that there is a triable case, there is no doubt that Veus will be serverly disadvantaged by the distaste with which the public views animal cruelty cases. While many animal cruelty cases involve mentally ill or elderly defendants who do not have the wherewithal to care for their pets, this case is different because it involves an act of premeditated cruelty. Potential jurors will find the allegations in this case offensive and are likely to lean in favor of the prosecution, even before hearing evidence.

To make matters worse for himself, Veus may also face a mandatory prison sentence as a consequence of his prior criminal history which is said to involve robbery and carrying a concealed firearm.

Ultimately Veus's defense lawyers will have to weigh the quality and availability of any eye witnesses testimony, any admissible confessions or statements by Veus (if made), and the weight of his prior criminal history when deciding whether or not to proceed to trial.