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Case #11179 Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Dog beaten to death, neck broken
Jackson, NJ (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Mar 25, 2007
County: Ocean
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Dennis P. Robinson
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
A 36-year-old man who has served time for aggravated manslaughter is back in jail after being charged with beating an adopted cocker spaniel to death in front of horrified witnesses at a campground.
Dennis P. Robinson, whose last known address was Maple Lake Campground on East Fish Road, was arrested March 30 by police and Joe Sbano, the township's animal control officer.
Robinson pleaded guilty in 1992 in a Monmouth County courtroom to fatally stabbing Joseph LoBosco at an Ocean Township party on Nov. 2, 1991. While at least five inebriated young men were stomping and kicking the victim, Robinson pulled out a knife and slashed LoBosco multiple times.
Robinson was originally charged with murder, but under a plea deal had the charge reduced to aggravated manslaughter.
Robinson was sentenced to 15 years on the manslaughter charge and was released from prison in 2006. He also has served time for burglary, according to the state Department of Corrections Web site.
On March 25, Robinson bludgeoned Abbie, the female dog, breaking its neck in front of witnesses at the campground, Sbano said.
Sbano learned of the crime when he visited the campground March 27. Sbano regularly donates pet food to the animals there and was approached by someone who had witnessed the beating, he said.
Sbano investigated but could not find the dog's body, though he did locate blood on the ground and door of Robinson's trailer, he said. But without the body, he couldn't proceed.
Maureen Banbramer, a clerk in Jackson's animal control office, said Sbano had come into the office covered with mud after having searched for the dog's grave.
Sbano later received a call from the campground's landlord Friday saying that in the course of removing Robinson's camper from the park during an eviction, the dog's body was found stuffed in a freezer outside.
The dog was a 5-year-old cocker spaniel who had been put up for adoption by an 80-year-old man who had become ill and could no longer care for her. The Northern Ocean Animal Shelter had screened Tara Melnick, who said she was adopting the dog for herself. Melnick then gave the dog to her boyfriend, Robinson, Sbano said.
Robinson was found and arrested Friday in another trailer on East Pleasant Grove Road, hiding with Melnick, said Lt. Richard Wagner. Police also found a substance believed to be crack cocaine. Robinson is charged with animal cruelty and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and remained in the Ocean County Jail on Wednesday on $100,000 bail.
Sbano, Detective Howard Bogan and Patrolman James Anuario followed tips on Robinson's whereabouts from other residents at the campground, who "went out of their way to help," Sbano said.
"It was a horrible situation," Sbano said. "This dog should have had a good home."
Sbano contacted the son of the man who had put the dog up for adoption. Banbramer also spoke to him and said he was very distraught over the dog's death. They "called him only because they did not want him to learn of the dog's death in the news," Banbramer said.
Case UpdatesA Superior Court judge on Friday cited a convicted killer's extensive criminal record when he sentenced the 37-year-old Jackson man to seven years in state prison for killing his pet cocker spaniel last year with a hammer.
Judge James Den Uyl imposed the extended prison term on Dennis Robinson, 37, for the animal cruelty he inflicted on Abbie, his 5-year-old cocker spaniel, on March 25, 2007.
Witnesses said he beat and kicked the pet, and flung it against the wall of his trailer in the Maple Lake Campground in Jackson.
Then, according to Robinson's admission in court on May 6, he crushed the dog's skull with a hammer.
The dog suffered a fractured skull and broken neck, said Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone.
"He beat her so cruelly outside his trailer," Weatherstone said. "She was dying from the injuries he inflicted on her. He felt the way to humanely euthanize her was to take a hammer and crush her skull."
The maximum term for cruelty involving the death of an animal is five years in prison, but Weatherstone argued for an extended term for Robinson based on his prior criminal record, which started when he was 13 and included a conviction for aggravated manslaughter.
Robinson served 5 1/2 years of the 15-year term he was given in 1992 for the fatal stabbing of a Tinton Falls man, Joseph LoBosco.
He also was given an indeterminate term for burglaries in 1989, a four-year prison term for a burglary in 1999, and another four-year prison term for a burglary in 2003, according to Den Uyl.
Weatherstone, in arguing for the extended prison term in the animal cruelty case, said Robinson has only been out of prison for 4 1/2 years his entire adult life.
"He has shown absolutely no ability to live within the rules and norms of society," Weatherstone said. "What this defendant did to Abbie was despicable."
Robinson's attorney, Daniel Straffi Jr., argued against an extended term, saying his client's past convictions, for the most part, were not for violent offenses.
Den Uyl agreed with Weatherstone.
"Mr. Robinson, because of his propensity to commit violent crimes and serious felony crimes . . . I find, is and should be subject to an extended term."
Straffi asked the judge to put the crime into perspective - football player Michael Vick was sentenced to less than two years in prison for his role in a dogfighting ring in which he admitted killing underperforming pit bulls.
"My client has spent 17 months of real time behind bars thus far. With that, I don't know how much more is necessary," Straffi said.
"The dog was his friend. The dog was his companion," Straffi said. "The conduct that transpired can't go away, but that can be put in perspective."
Weatherstone countered: "Abbie was nothing more to this defendant than his victim."
Robinson said he didn't mean to kill the dog.
"It was unintentional," Robinson told the judge before he was sentenced. "Things got carried away. I didn't try to justify my acts. I did what I did."
Joseph Sbano, Jackson's animal cruelty investigator, questioned what had happened to Robinson in his life to make him do what he did to Abbie, who at 4 1/2 years old was adopted for Robinson by his girlfriend from the Ocean County animal shelter after the canine's previous owner became too ill to care for it.
"If he showed this dog a little passion and love, he would have gotten it back tenfold," Sbano said.
Abbie, when tested at the animal shelter for the qualities that would make her adoptable, "aced (the test) in every single category," Sbano said.
"She was the perfect dog," he said.
Robinson was arrested March 20, 2007, after his landlord found the dog's remains in a freezer outside Robinson's camper while the landlord was in the process of evicting him. He was found to be in possession of cocaine at the time, and he also pleaded guilty to cocaine possession on May 6.
Den Uyl ordered Robinson serve 3 1/2 years of the 7-year term prison term for animal cruelty before he can be considered for release on parole. Den Uyl sentenced Robinson to a 5-year prison term, to be served simultaneously, for the cocaine possession.
"I'm very happy with the sentence," Sbano said afterward. "I hope it sends a message that this kind of cruelty will not be accepted in Jackson Township or New Jersey." | Source: Asbury Park Press - July 12, 2008
Update posted on Jul 12, 2008 - 3:01PM |
As he was set to go on trial today on animal-cruelty charges, a 37-year-old Jackson man admitted he crushed his pet cocker spaniel's skull with a hammer, killing the dog.
Dennis Robinson, whose last address was the Maple Lake Campground on East Fish Road in Jackson, pleaded guilty to a single count of animal cruelty before Superior Court Judge James N. Den Uyl.
The maximum prison term for the crime is five years, but Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone said he will seek an extended 10-year prison term for Robinson because of his prior criminal history, which includes a 1992 conviction for aggravated manslaughter.
Weatherstone said he will seek a concurrent prison term for another charge of cocaine possession, to which Robinson also pleaded guilty.
Being questioned by his attorney, Daniel Straffi Jr., Robinson admitted he committed a purposeful act of cruelty on his pet cocker spaniel, Abbie, resulting in the dog's death on March 25, 2007 in Jackson.
Weatherstone said it was clear from an expert's report that the 5-year-old, female dog's skull was crushed with a hammer.
"You took that hammer and crushed that dog's skull?" Weatherstone asked Robinson.
Robinson responded affirmatively, showing no emotion.
''You knew that was cruel and would cause that dog's death?" Weatherstone asked.
"Yes," Robinson said, matter-of-factly.
Den Uyl scheduled Robinson's sentencing for July 11. | Source: Asbury Park Press - May 6, 2008
Update posted on May 6, 2008 - 3:36PM |
Dennis Robinson didn't mean to kill Abbie the dog. That is what Robinson, a confessed killer from Jackson, told a detective about the cocker spaniel that was beaten to death and stuffed in his freezer last year, the detective testified in court Monday.
On the eve of the man's trial on an animal cruelty charge, a judge ruled that the jury can hear the statements the defendant made to the detective about the dog.
The jury also can hear from witnesses who accused the defendant of kicking and punching the cocker spaniel and throwing it against his trailer, Superior Court Judge James Den Uyl ruled.
Opening arguments in the case against Robinson are scheduled for this morning before Den Uyl.
Robinson, 37, whose last address was the Maple Lake Campground on East Fish Road in Jackson, is accused of beating to death the 5-year-old cocker spaniel in front of witnesses on the campground on March 25, 2007. The dog suffered a broken neck and died, authorities said.
The dog was adopted for Robinson by his girlfriend, they said.
Robinson - who served five and a half years of a 15-year prison term for a 1992 aggravated manslaughter conviction - was arrested March 30, 2007, after his landlord found the cocker spaniel's remains stuffed in a freezer outside Robinson's camper while the landlord was in the process of evicting Robinson, authorities have said.
Jackson Detective Howard Bogan - testifying Monday at a hearing on whether Robinson's brief statements to authorities would be admissible at the trial - said he went to the camper with Jackson animal control Officer Joseph Sbano and a patrol officer to arrest Robinson that day.
"He said he knew why we were there," Bogan testified. "We were going to get him for killing the dog. He said, "I knew you guys were going to get me for the thing with the dog.' "
Bogan said he told Robinson he didn't believe he was a bad person, but that he must have gotten carried away.
"He said he has anger management issues, and he did get carried away, and he didn't mean to kill the dog," Bogan said Robinson told him.
"The dog was a good dog, and he didn't mean to kill it," defense attorney Daniel Straffi Jr. said, reading from Bogan's report while cross-examining the witness.
Straffi sought to have the statement excluded from the trial, saying there was no proof that Robinson had voluntarily waived his right to remain silent. But Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone argued that Robinson - no stranger to the criminal justice system - understood his rights and voluntarily gave them up. Den Uyl ruled in favor of the state.
Sbano had testified Monday that he witnessed Bogan read Robinson his rights and Robinson tell the detective he understood them.
In other rulings, Den Uyl said Robinson's prior criminal record can be mentioned to the jury, although not in detail, if Robinson chooses to testify in his defense.
Robinson pleaded guilty in 1992 to aggravated manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old Tinton Falls man, Joseph LoBosco. Robinson also has three burglary convictions, in 1989, 1999 and 2003, and convictions for criminal mischief and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, Weatherstone told the judge.
Den Uyl also ruled that Weatherstone can present witnesses that Straffi sought to exclude. One of the witnesses was a neighbor of Robinson who told authorities he saw the defendant come out of his trailer, fall on the ground, and then get up and start kicking and punching the dog. The neighbor told authorities that Robinson turned to him and said, "What the (expletive) are you looking at?" and then picked up the dog and flung it against his trailer, Weatherstone said.
Robinson has been in the Ocean County Jail here while awaiting trial. | Source: Asbury Park Press - May 6, 2008
Update posted on May 6, 2008 - 3:34PM |
A 36-year-old admitted killer who is now accused of fatally beating a cocker spaniel in front of his neighbors at a Jackson campground has been indicted on animal cruelty and drug charges that could land him in prison for up to 10 years.
An Ocean County grand jury on Tuesday handed up an indictment - applauded by animal-rights activists - that charges Dennis P. Robinson with the crimes.
Authorities allege that Robinson, whose last address was the Maple Lake Campground on East Fish Road, bludgeoned a 5-year-old female dog named Abbie in front of witnesses at the campground on March 25. The cocker spaniel suffered a broken neck and died, authorities said.
Jackson's animal control officer, Joseph Sbano, arrested Robinson after the campground's landlord found the dog's remains stuffed in a freezer outside Robinson's camper while he was in the process of evicting Robinson.
Authorities said Robinson's girlfriend had adopted the cocker spaniel from an 80-year-old man who was ill and could no longer care for it, and then gave the dog to Robinson.
Robinson has served prison sentences for burglaries and for killing a 24-year-old Tinton Falls man in 1991.
Authorities said Robinson fatally stabbed Joseph LoBosco with a two-edged blade as the victim was being beaten by a group of drunken partygoers in Ocean Township, Monmouth County, on Nov. 2, 1991. Authorities said the beating did not contribute to LoBosco's death.
Robinson, who at the time lived in Long Branch, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. At the time of the killing, he had been on parole from sentences for burglary and criminal trespass out of Monmouth County.
Robinson served 5 1/2 years for the manslaughter conviction. He then served two more prison terms, both for burglary: one from January 1999 to April 2001, and another from November 2003 to Jan. 1, 2006.
Under New Jersey law, animal cruelty is a fourth-degree crime carrying a maximum prison term of 18 months unless there are special circumstances. One of the circumstances that elevates the cruelty to a third-degree crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison, is if the animal dies as a result of the cruelty, Harper said.
In addition, Robinson could face another five years in prison if he is convicted of the drug possession charge in the indictment.
Robinson was being held in the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, and will face arraignment within the next several weeks. | Source: Asbury Park Press - June 14, 2007
Update posted on Jun 14, 2007 - 12:06PM |
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