Kitten shot to death
Bluffton, SC (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008
County: Beaufort
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Frank Hodge
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A Bluffton official was fined about $820 and suspended from work for two weeks for allegedly shooting and killing a kitten near his Verdier Cove Road home, according to authorities.
Frank Hodge, director of the town's new Department of Building Safety, was cited for malicious injury to an animal and discharging a firearm within town limits in the April 15 incident, according to a Bluffton police report.
Mud Pie, the 7-month-old kitten, and owner Amy Longley were sharing a ham sandwich on Longley's porch when her phone rang around noon that day, Longley said in an interview Thursday. She said Mud Pie started chasing a butterfly across the lawn when she got up to answer the phone.
Minutes later, while still on the phone, Longley said she heard three gunshots. She hung up to check on Mud Pie.
When she crossed the street, Longley found her kitten dead -- shot once in the chest and once in the neck, according to the report.
Longley buried the kitten in the yard of her home at 48 Verdier Cove Road later that afternoon.
Longley said neighbors told her that Hodge shot Mud Pie because he thought the animal was sick.
Hodge told neighbors he left his home for a meeting after the shooting and that he had planned to "deal with it later," the report stated.
Longley said Mud Pie -- named for her affinity for frolicking in the dirt -- had not been sick and was certainly not rabid.
"What gives him the authority to make that call?" Longley said. "This is 2008."
Frank Hodge, 62, did not return phone calls Thursday. Attempts to talk to him at his home on 55 Verdier Cove Road also were unsuccessful.
Dr. Cal Sharp, Hodge's neighbor, said Hodge dealt with what he thought might have been a rabid animal in a way that he thought was appropriate.
"It's the way things in the past have been dealt with," Sharp said. "But it's 2008. It's not the way things are done anymore."
Sharp said Hodge has been a good neighbor and belongs to wildlife and hunting groups. Hodge owns several cats and dogs, Sharp said.
"He made an unfortunate mistake," Sharp said.
Bluffton town manager Bill Workman said Hodge "showed a significant lack of good judgment."
Workman said Hodge will undergo mandatory counseling through the town's Employee Assistance Program.
Hodge was fined $257.50 for discharging a firearm in town limits and $562 for malicious injury to an animal, according to Bluffton Municipal Court records.
Those fines were paid April 22.
Sandy Lesch, manager for Bluffton's Department of Building Safety, said the incident -- and Hodge's two-week suspension -- will not affect the new department's operations.
"We'll keep going right along," she said in an interview at her office Thursday.
Hodge joined Bluffton's new Department of Building Safety -- which will take over building inspection responsibilities now managed by Beaufort County -- when the department opened its doors last November.
Before that, Hodge had served more than 20 years in a similar department on Hilton Head Island.
Case UpdatesDespite questions that have area bloggers buzzing, Bluffton's Police Chief said Tuesday that charges filed against a town official accused of shooting his neighbor's kitten were appropriate and in accordance with state law.
Police Chief David McAllister also addressed bloggers' allegations that Frank Hodge, director of Bluffton's new Department of Building Safety, received special treatment because of his job with the town.
"Nobody (in Bluffton Town Hall) influenced our decision. (They) had no impact on the charges, arrest -- nothing," McAllister said.
Hodge is accused of fatally shooting a seven-month-old kitten named Mud Pie in the chest and neck when the animal came onto his property around noon April 15, according to a Bluffton police report.
He was cited for malicious injury to an animal and discharging a firearm within town limits in connection with the incident, according to the report.
Bloggers have questioned why Hodge wasn't charged with a felony under South Carolina animal cruelty laws, which carry harsher fines and more jail time than the misdemeanor charges he faced.
Animal cruelty laws would not have been used, McAllister said, unless Hodge had tortured the animal to death -- for example, by lighting the cat on fire.
"The state legislature makes a difference between killing and cruelly killing," McAllister said. "Some people may say (Hodge) cruelly killed the cat, but in the facts of the investigation, he only killed the cat. We charged accordingly."
McAllister said people frustrated by the charges should direct their concerns to state legislators.
Mud Pie's owner, Bluffton resident and Hodge's neighbor Amy Longley, filed the initial incident report April 17.
A supplemental report, which includes details about investigators' interviews with Hodge, will not be released until May 15, the scheduled Bluffton Municipal Court date, McAllister said.
Hodge paid a $257.50 fine for discharging a firearm in town limits and a $562 fine for malicious injury to an animal April 22, according to Bluffton Municipal Court records.
While Hodge still has the right to plead innocent and appear in court May 15, his attorney, Roberts Vaux, said Tuesday night his client has pleaded guilty by paying the fines.
"That's the end," he said.
Frank Hodge, 62, in the second week of his two-week unpaid suspension from his post, did not return phone calls Tuesday.
Attempts to talk to him at his home also were unsuccessful.
Town Manager Bill Workman said Hodge will undergo mandatory counseling through the town's Employee Assistance Program. He said Hodge will begin two weeks of vacation after his suspension and that the two haven't discussed a resignation. Hodge was at home for lunch, and therefore not on the town's time when the incident occurred, Workman said. | Source: The Island Packet - April 30, 2008
Update posted on May 4, 2008 - 2:01PM |
References« SC State Animal Cruelty Map
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