Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Doug Harcleroad | | Defense(s): | Jim Jagger |
Cat hanged to death during domestic dispute
Eugene, OR (US)Incident Date: Friday, Dec 7, 2007
County: Lane
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Acquitted
Person of Interest: Anthony Lee Weber
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A Lane County Circuit Court jury began hearing evidence Wednesday [Aug 27, 2008] in a domestic violence case that includes a felony charge of aggravated animal abuse.
In opening arguments Wednesday afternoon, Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad told jurors that Anthony Lee Weber hanged his girlfriend's cat in December during a 10-week period in which he also allegedly harassed, assaulted and choked the woman.
Weber, 22, also is accused of interfering with her efforts to call police and of damaging her vehicle.
Harcleroad told jurors that the couple's yearlong relationship turned ugly last Halloween night, when they lived together with her 6-year-old son in a trailer she owned with her father in a Seavey Loop area park. Weber touched her against her wishes, the prosecutor said, after they quarreled about him going out to drink with friends rather than show up for a planned family trick-or-treat outing.
She stayed with him after he promised not to physically harass her again, Harcleroad said, but the relationship continued to sour.
On Dec. 7, he said, the victim found the family's cat hanging from a noose inside its cage, its face smashed against a latticework door. The maximum penalty for aggravated animal abuse, a Class C felony, is five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.
A month later, on Jan. 8, Weber choked the woman in front of her son, the prosecutor said, and was arrested after several neighbors in the park called police upon hearing her cries for help and watching Weber grab and shove her and kick in the trailer door.
Weber's attorney, Jim Jagger, told jurors his client was trying to leave the woman when their Jan. 8 dispute spilled out onto the street. He said Weber obtained a restraining order against her after she threatened to stab him, threw a heavy glass Mason jar full of liquid at him and tried to hit him with his guitar.
Jagger said he would produce witnesses to testify that they heard her threaten Weber. Jagger said the alleged victim's charges against his client were her attempt at retribution for his decision to end the relationship.
During more than three hours of jury selection, some potential jurors told Lane County Circuit Judge Maurice Merten that they didn't want to serve on the case because they felt that testimony about the cat's death would be too upsetting.
"No one likes it," Merten said, but hearing such information is part of what citizens are called to do when summoned to jury duty.
The trial resumes today and is expected to last into next week.
Case UpdatesAfter a day and a half of deliberation, a Lane County Circuit Court jury convicted Eugene resident Anthony Lee Weber of several domestic violence offenses, but acquitted him on a felony count of aggravated animal abuse and three other charges.
Weber, 22, had been accused of killing a cat that lived in the Seavey Loop area trailer he shared with his former girlfriend and her young son. Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad told the jury that Weber hung the cat in its cage as a way to intimidate the girlfriend, the victim in the case.
Weber's attorney, Jim Jagger, told jurors that there was no proof Weber killed the animal beyond the testimony of the victim, whom Jagger said fabricated that accusation and others as retribution for Weber's decision to end their relationship.
But the jury convicted Weber on three of seven charges after a seven-day trial that included testimony from neighbors who witnessed a Jan. 8 altercation between the former couple and from a physician who treated the victim for her injuries.
Jurors found Weber guilty of fourth-degree assault in the presence of a child and first-degree criminal mischief, both felonies, as well as of misdemeanor strangulation.
Besides the animal abuse charge, they acquitted Weber on one count each of physical harassment, misdemeanor assault and interfering with the victim's efforts to call police.
Lane County Circuit Judge Maurice Merten set sentencing for Monday morning, and found that aggravating circumstances will apply to both the felony convictions. A finding of such circumstances can increase the penalties for certain crimes under Oregon law.
Harcleroad argued successfully that Weber should face stiffer sentences because he was on probation from a previous conviction - unlawful entry into a motor vehicle with intent to commit theft - at the time he committed the Jan. 8 offenses. Harcleroad also pointed to Weber's failure to follow the terms of his probation on 2006 misdemeanor convictions for delivering less than an ounce of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. | Source: Register-Guard - Sept 6, 2008
Update posted on Sep 6, 2008 - 9:35AM |
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