Cat shot to death
Greenbush, ME (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Oct 18, 2007
County: Penobscot
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Richard Madden
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A Greenbush man faces three misdemeanor charges arising from last fall's fatal shooting of a neighbor's pet cat.
The charges against Richard Madden, 47, stem from an investigation by a game warden and the cat's owner, Michael Mitchell.
On Oct. 19, the day after Mitchell and his wife heard a late-night gunshot, he found the family's gray tabby, Dakota, buried in a shallow grave along railroad tracks that border his property. An examination of the remains confirmed that the cat had been shot with a rifle.
Mitchell said he didn't disturb footprints he spotted in the dirt where he found Dakota. He also sought neighborhood help in finding the person who shot the cat.
Mitchell said Madden came to his house in December to inform him that he had just shot and killed a stray dog on the road in front of Mitchell's house. It was not clear if the dog shooting led to the recent charges against Madden.
He is scheduled to appear April 17 in Bangor District Court to answer charges of cruelty to animals, shooting a firearm on or near a public way, and shooting a domestic animal, District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said.
Mitchell said his wife, Shirley Mitchell, was crying for days after Dakota was killed.
Since then, Shirley Mitchell's daughter found her another cat, which also helped the family's 13-year-old Shetland sheepdog, Tyler, cope with the loss.
"He's a herder," Mitchell said. "He's always had a cat to help get in every evening and got depressed. He has to have a job, and his job was taking care of that cat."
Case UpdatesA Greenbush man accused of killing a neighbor's cat pleaded not guilty Thursday to three misdemeanor charges in 3rd District Court in Bangor.
Richard "Ricky" Madden is charged with cruelty to animals, shooting a firearm on or near a public way, and shooting a domestic animal.
His jury-waived trial is scheduled for 1 p.m. June 3.
If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 on the animal cruelty charge and up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 on the other charges.
Madden allegedly shot and killed a neighbor's cat in October. When the cat, named Dakota, didn't return home, its owner, Michael Mitchell, searched the yard and road, according to a story published last month in the Bangor Daily News.
The next day, Mitchell took his ATV and began searching along the railroad tracks that border a portion of the couple's 16-acre property for the gray tabby cat.
Mitchell said last month that about 500 feet from the roadway and partway up the more than 5-foot embankment that supports the tracks, he spotted the cat.
"Right about eye level, there was my cat's back, stuck out of that shallow grave," he said.
Mitchell paid for a necropsy conducted at the University of Maine that confirmed the cat had been killed with a rifle. | Source: Bangor Daily News - April 18, 2008
Update posted on Apr 18, 2008 - 1:36PM |
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