This happened today in Bloomfield, Iowa.
In my opinion, the probation these *&%$#@ got was a slap on the wrist.
They should have gotten the max, 5 years in jail.
The sentencing was on Court TV live, and I got this article off Court
TV's web site.
 
Iowa v. Chad Lamansky and Daniel Myers
"The Cat Killers Trial"
 Chad Lamansky and Daniel Myers were accused of breaking into the Noah's Ark
animal shelter on March 1997 and bludgeoning more than 20 cats with baseball
bats. Sixteen animals died while eight other animals were hospitalized for
veterinary treatment. Lamansky and Myers, ages 18 and 17 at the time of the
incident, were each charged with willfully injuring animals maintained by an
animal facility, entering an animal facility with the intent to injure an
animal, and third-degree burglary.
 
 A third teen-ager involved in the attack, Justin Tobin, pled guilty to third
degree burglary before the trial and agreed to testify against Lamansky and
Myers.
 
On the morning of March 8, 1997, volunteers for the Noah's Ark Animal Shelter
arrived at work to find 15 cats dead and six others severely injured. Animal
blood was splattered on the walls and furniture had been overturned. David
and Laura Sykes, the founders of Noah's Ark, found dozens of other cats 
iding
and trembling in fear, but a number of other animals were missing. Days after
the gruesome discovery, the body of another dead cat was found as well as two
other injured cats. However, several other animals never were found. Three of
the injured cats were sent to veterinarian school at Iowa State University 
or
specialized treatment and five others were treated at the Fairfield Animal
Clinic. Most of the treated cats survived and were adopted, but one 
ventually
died from its injuries.
 Chad Lamansky, Daniel Myers, and Justin Tobin were arrested for the attack
one week later. According to police, a few days before the break-in at Noah's
Ark, Lamansky and Myers shot, killed, and skinned a cat that belonged to
Lamansky's mother and showed it off to their friends. Apparently, the
defendants also began telling their friends that they were planning to "get
some cats" or "get some bats to get some cats" at the Noah's Ark shelter. 
nd,
on the night after the attack, Myers allegedly bragged about the crime to
several friends at a party.
 Tobin pled guilty to burglary charges on July 15, 1997. He admitted driving
his two co-defendants from a local restaurant to pick up baseball bats and
then taking them to Noah's Ark on March 7. Tobin claimed that he never
participated in the actual bludgeoning of the cats and that he only kicked a
cat out of the way during the attack without injuring it. In addition, Tobin
said that he was so sickened by the actions of his two friends that he waited
in the doorway of the shelter and insisted that they leave after five minutes
passed.
 As part of his plea agreement, Tobin will serve three years probation and
will be required to perform between 100 and 200 hours of community service.
Tobin also will partcipate in a Youthful Offender Program.
 
 During  jury selection, the defense revealed for the first time that 
amansky
and Myers would admit entering the Noah's Ark animal shelter with the intent
to injure the animals. So, the only issue at the trial was the cost of the
damage they inflicted.
On November 8, 1997, Lamansky and Myers were each convicted of willfully
injuring the cats at Noah's Ark. They were also convicted of misdemeanors 
uch
as criminal trespass with the costs of injury and damage each exceeding $100
and entering an animal facility with intent to injure an animal.
 
On December 19, the two were sentenced to 23 days in jail, and fined $2,500,
in addition to being forced to pay the prosecution's fees.  They will also
have to pay restitution fines to the Sykeses that will be determined at a
later date.
 
Noah's Ark owner David Sykes offered a victim impact statement before the
sentence.
 
He described how he came upon "a scene of horrible mass violence and
destruction" when he discovered the mutilated and mangled bodies of the cats
strewn throughout the shelter.
 
"Frantically I began running from room to room in horror and disbelief," he
said.
 
He described how the shelter became packed with police and investigators, as
well as veterinarians caring for the cats who survived and removing the ones
who didn't.
 
"Everywhere I looked I saw feline friends," Sykes added, "as in some
nightmarish mass murder scene."
 
The two convicted teens offered incredibly terse statements, briefly
apologizing for their actions.  In one odd twist, their lawyers at one point
replayed a snippet of legal commentary from the original Court TV broadcast
of their trial as part of their argument in favor of lenient sentences.
 
      Ross Sauer          patch@bbs.sts.net
 
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