CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #1074 Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Dog fatally shot with shotgun
Golden Gate, FL (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Oct 21, 2001
County: Collier
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Andrew Mendo
Andrew Mendo, age 62, was sentenced to two years in jail and three years on probation after pleading no contest on March 20 to fatally shooting his son's dog with a shotgun. He was convicted of one charge of animal cruelty, a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison.
He has already spent more than a year in jail since his arrest awaiting a trial or a plea and began serving the second half of his two-year sentence immediately after his plea was entered in Collier Circuit Court.
Assistant State Attorney Christine Greider, who handled the case, said Mendo made a plea to the court, meaning he did so without the benefit of any plea bargain agreement with the prosecutor about what the sentence would be.
Mendo also received a suspended sentence of four years in state prison, which he will not serve if he completes three years of probation. He was arrested after deputies spent several months investigating the Oct. 27, 2001, shooting at his home at 341 10th St. N.E.
According to the arrest report, witnesses told deputies that Cleo, a small female dog, had run through a screen on the home's rear lanai. As a result, the dog's owners tethered him to a clothesline. Cleo belonged to Mendo's son, Brian, said Mendo's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Shannon Brown.
Mendo had been drinking beer later that day. At some point, he walked behind his home with a shotgun and shot Cleo, according to a sheriff's report. Deputies say Mendo left the dog tied to the clothesline, went back inside the house, sat down and drank another beer before untying the dead dog and then taking the animal into the woods.
Brown said Mendo told police he thought the dog was in pain from the injury it suffered breaking through the screen. References« FL State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Collier County, FL
|
