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Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Lisa Pearson, David Cheval | | Defense(s): | George Kokus, Joshua Maximon | | Judge(s): | Noel Blum, Maria Berkenkotter |
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Case #15429 Rating: 2.4 out of 5
Dog taped to refrigerator with packing tape
Boulder, CO (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009
County: Boulder
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 3 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» Abby Toll
» Bryan Beck
Case Updates: 6 update(s) available
A University of Colorado student, 20, is facing a felony animal abuse rap after she allegedly taped her boyfriend's puppy to the side of a refrigerator in a bid to teach the rambunctious animal a "lesson."
According to police, Abby Toll used clear packing tape early this morning to adhere the eight-month-old dog (a Shiba Inu named Rex) to the appliance in the kitchen of her boyfriend's apartment.
Toll allegedly was angry at Bryan Beck, 21, for failing to get rid of the puppy, which, Toll told cops, bit her a few days ago.
According to Boulder Police Department reports, when cops responded at 5 AM to a "report of a male and female yelling" at Beck's apartment, they discovered that "Rex's body was completely encased in packing tape."
When Officer Kara Jurczenia asked what was on the side of the fridge, Toll replied, "The dog."
Toll added, "I know this looks really bad, but the dog bites. He is aggressive."
Jurczenia asked how long the puppy had been taped upside down to the side of the refrigerator. "Not long," Toll replied. "Like 20-30 minutes. It was just until he calmed down."
The reports note that when Beck saw his dog stuck to the refrigerator, he told Toll, "Take him down," adding, "You are so sick!"
Toll replied, "No, you are sick for not caring enough about me to get rid of the dog."
The animal, whose paws had been bound with elastic hair ties, was clearly in pain and "yelped and screamed loudly" as cops worked to free him.
"Rex just lay motionless, but breathing, on his kennel after he was removed from the tape."
The puppy was handed over to the Boulder Valley Humane Society. Toll was turned over to county jailers. Beck, who was arrested in connection with his scuffle with Toll, was not charged with animal abuse. Though he did reportedly tell police, "We were going to get rid of him anyway. We usually don't do this."
Case UpdatesAbby Toll, who bound and taped an 11-pound puppy to the side of a fridge in her boyfriend's Boulder apartment last year, nearly faced her victim Friday as she was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation.
A prosecutor in the case asked Boulder County District Judge Maria Berkenkotter if the curious and energetic shiba inu that the former University of Colorado student targeted with hair ties and packing tape could make an appearance in court while his tormentor was sentenced.
The judge denied the request, saying only service animals are allowed in court. But she took Toll to task for carrying out what she described as a "senseless and cruel" series of actions against the helpless animal, known then as Rex.
Berkenkotter described to the court how Toll painstakingly bound Rex's snout, feet and tail with packing tape and hair ties, before adhering the animal to the fridge with more tape.
"He almost certainly must have struggled," the judge intoned several times.
She ordered that Toll be taken immediately into custody. Handcuffed, Toll was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies as her mother and brother looked on, bringing to an end a bizarre case that attracted national media attention and spawned a collection of Web sites condemning Toll.
Berkenkotter also ordered Toll to perform 200 hours of community service, pay $771 in restitution, and have no contact with animals while she is on probation.
The judge credited Toll with two days for time already served in jail.
Just before she was escorted from the courtroom, Toll tearfully said she was "deeply sorry for what happened to Rex last year."
"I am so ashamed," said Toll, who now attends the University of Illinois-Chicago. "There is no doubt that a horrible, bizarre thing happened in that apartment that night."
She called herself an "animal lover" and said she kept Rex, who was later adopted by a Castle Rock couple and renamed Yoshi, in her thoughts every day.
Toll was arrested on April 14, 2009, after police received a call of a domestic dispute at a Boulder apartment building. Inside the unit, they found an 8-month-old puppy struggling in a "tomb of tape" that had been stuck to the side of a refrigerator.
Toll admitted binding and attaching the dog to the fridge, saying she did it to get back at her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, for paying more attention to his dog than to her, according to police. She also accused Rex of biting her and acting aggressively toward her.
She was charged with felony animal cruelty. A jury found her guilty after a two-day trial in April, during which her previous attorney called no witnesses to the stand.
Prosecutor David Cheval said Toll, who faced up to 18 months in prison for the Class 6 felony conviction, should serve 90 days behind bars.
"We would like Ms. Toll to see what it's like to be confined like Yoshi, with no way to escape," he said Friday.
Toll's lawyer, Joshua Maximon, asked for electronic home monitoring for his client and said she was the victim of a difficult childhood and a violent relationship with Beck, during which he once punched Toll in the face.
"She is a good person," Maximon said. "This night didn't capture her in the way people know her."
Toll's mother, Sherry, told the court that her daughter had grown up with pets and loved them dearly.
"Her history with animals is extraordinary," she said. "Her real true love are dogs."
Maximon told the court that Toll had struggled through her parents' bitter divorce when she was 8 years old and her father's death from cancer when she was 14.
He said she was sick and exhausted from treatment for a staph infection the morning Rex was taped to the fridge and that all she wanted to do was leave her boyfriend's apartment following a fight they had.
Beck didn't let her leave when she made several attempts to do so, Maximon said.
"He grabs her and rips her jacket as she is trying to get out of the window," the lawyer said.
Beck was the one who actually bound the dog, Maximon said, and that his client simply stuck the animal up on the fridge. She lied to police about her role in the incident to protect her boyfriend, he said.
Cheval shot back that Toll's allegations about Beck were unfair and amounted to "character assassination" because Beck wasn't in court to defend himself.
Beck pleaded guilty last summer to misdemeanor attempted animal cruelty in the case and was given a one-year deferred sentence. Beck was originally charged with false imprisonment and obstruction of a telephone, but those misdemeanor charges were later dismissed.
"He didn't do this. She did, and a jury found her guilty," Cheval said. "She continues to make excuses. She continues to not take responsibility."
The judge agreed.
"The court is concerned that Ms. Toll doesn't completely grasp the impact of her actions," Berkenkotter said. "Ms. Toll showed no concern for Rex."
But Berkenkotter noted that Toll had no criminal history and that family members and friends had written letters on her behalf saying her behavior last year was "out of character."
Lisa Pearson, the other prosecutor on the case and the Boulder County District Attorney Office's animal cruelty liaison, said she was pleased that the judge sentenced Toll to jail time.
"I think because of the methodical nature of what she did -- spending time getting all the tools that she used for the torture -- I think that's what really raises this to the level where jail is appropriate," she said.
Shannon Park and his wife, Amy, adopted Yoshi about a month after the incident. He said the dog had nightmares for the first couple of weeks and is fearful around people and other dogs he doesn't know. Yoshi has also had sessions with an animal behaviorist.
But Shannon Park said he felt the sentence was fair and he hoped Toll would learn something from the incident.
"It's depressing to see a young woman make such a dramatic and sad choice in her life that will affect her profoundly," he said. | Source: dailycamera.com - Jul 9, 2010
Update posted on Jun 30, 2011 - 1:01AM |
Abby Toll, a former University of Colorado student convicted by a jury last month of felony animal cruelty for taping her boyfriend's dog to a refrigerator, will be sentenced July 9.
Toll, 21, who faces up to 18 months in prison, was supposed to be sentenced this morning, but Boulder County Court Judge Maria Berkenkotter agreed to reset the sentencing hearing to a later date because Toll hired a new lawyer.
Joshua Maximon, who was retained by Toll only a few days ago, filed a motion with the court asking for time to review the case file and court transcript before proceeding to sentencing.
Berkenkotter granted the request and reset the hearing this morning. Toll, who now lives in Chicago, joined the hearing via telephone.
She was found guilty of aggravated animal cruelty April 13 after binding a shiba inu with tape and sticking it upside down to the side of a refrigerator at the Boulder apartment of her then-boyfriend, Bryan Beck.
Toll told police she stuck the dog, named Rex, to the fridge to get back at Beck, because he paid more attention to Rex than her. | Source: dailycamera.com - May 28, 2010
Update posted on Jun 9, 2010 - 3:31PM |
Crying out that her ex-boyfriend played a role in abusing an 8-month-old shiba inu puppy, Abby Toll left the courtroom in tears Tuesday afternoon just minutes after a Boulder County jury convicted her on a felony count of aggravated animal cruelty.
"Bryan Beck knows what he did to that dog," Toll screamed tearfully about her ex-boyfriend, as she was led through the courthouse hallway by her lawyer.
When asked by a reporter if Beck bound and taped the dog, then named Rex, to a refrigerator in his Boulder apartment a year ago, she said, "Yes he did."
Beck pleaded guilty last summer to misdemeanor attempted animal cruelty in the case and was given a one-year deferred sentence.
He denied playing any role in binding and taping Rex and in police reports from the April 14, 2009 incident, Toll is reported telling officers that she wrapped up the animal in an attempt to get back at Beck for paying more attention to the dog than to her.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated only a couple of hours before arriving at their guilty verdict. None would comment about the case afterwards.
Toll's attorney, George Kokus, said he would appeal the conviction and he said Colorado's felony animal abuse statute was misapplied in his client's case.
"The legislature's intent was that this law should be used on serial animal abusers," he said. "The serial murderers of dogs and cats."
Before the felony animal abuse statute was put on the state's books eight years ago, animal cruelty violations were treated as misdemeanors in Colorado.
Prosecutor Lisa Pearson said the statute was enacted to address exactly the kind of cruelty Toll exhibited when she collected hair ties and packing tape and bound and wrapped Rex up.
In her closing argument, she told the jury that Toll acted "deliberately" and "systematically," taking her time to bind the dog as it struggled against her.
"It gives us a good sense of how the community feels about this kind of act," Pearson said.
Toll is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28. She could receive anywhere from probation to 18 months in prison for the Class 6 felony.
UPDATED: 1:49 p.m.
A Boulder County jury has convicted former University of Colorado student Abby Toll of aggravated animal cruelty, a felony, after about two hours of deliberation.
UPDATED: 1:32 p.m.
The jury has reached its verdict. It should be read in court within the next half-hour.
UPDATED: 1:10 p.m.
The jury in the Abby Toll animal cruelty case will not be allowed to have copies of police reports documenting the events of April 14, 2009 because the reports were not admitted into evidence during the two-day trial, Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter ruled this afternoon.
Attorneys were called into the courtroom shortly after 1 p.m. to register any objection to the judge's decision. No one did.
The jury has been deliberating the case since about 11:30 a.m.
They are considering whether to convict or acquit Toll on a felony charge of animal cruelty after she allegedly bound and taped her boyfriend's dog to the side of the fridge nearly a year ago.
They can also consider two lesser misdemeanor animal abuse charges if they don't think the state proved its case on the felony.
UPDATED: 11:46 a.m.
Abby Toll's animal cruelty trial is now in the hands of the jury.
Shortly before the lunch hour, lawyers in the case wrapped up their closing arguments and Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter dismissed the alternate juror.
The jury is now made up of six men and six women.
Prosecutor David Cheval wrapped up closings for the prosecution by loudly ripping packing tape off a roll to demonstrate how Toll would have prepared Rex for binding.
He also gripped garbage bags to show what Toll allegedly placed over the dog's snout before wrapping him in tape.
If convicted of the felony count of aggravated animal cruelty, Toll could face a maximum of 18 months in prison.
UPDATED: 11:25 a.m.
Closings are underway in the felony animal cruelty trial of Abby Toll.
Prosecutor Lisa Pearson told the jury Toll deliberately and methodically collected hair ties and packing tape around the apartment of her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, to bind and tape his dog, Rex, to the fridge.
She said Toll acted knowingly and was aware that she was going to put the dog into a state of suffering and fear.
Abby toll tortured Rex by inflicting pain and fear," Pearson said.
She asked the jury to think about how long it took Toll to hold Rex down and snap hair bands on his paws, tie his snout to his collar with a hair tie, and then tape him up.
"Think about how long that must have taken, think about how long it takes to wrap a Christmas present," Pearson asked.
Toll's lawyer, George Kokus, argued that his client was like a "zombie" that night a year ago and that she didn't have the state of mind to knowingly torture the dog.
There's not a shred of evidence that she did," he said.
He said his client was under the control of her boyfriend, who he described as a "Tony Montana wannabe."
Kokus asked the jury to consider one of the two lesser included offenses on their jury verdict form -- misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals.
UPDATED: 10:31 a.m.
Before the jury reassembled in the courtroom for instructions, Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter asked a spectator to either take off or turn inside out a sweatshirt she was wearing that stated "There is no excuse for animal abuse."
She said the shirt's message threatened to unfairly influence the jury and violate Abby Toll's constitutional rights.
The woman complied with the judge's order and removed the sweatshirt.
UPDATED: 9:12 a.m.
Abby Toll's felony animal cruelty trial could wrap up as early as today, with her defense team declining to call any witnesses Tuesday morning.
Toll, a 21-year-old former University of Colorado student who is accused of binding and taping her boyfriend's dog to a fridge last April, announced in court Tuesday morning that she will not take the stand.
The jury entered the courtroom for about five minutes as Toll's lawyer, George Kokus, announced to the court that the defense rests.
Jury instructions will be given within the hour and then both sides will give closing arguments.
Toll's trial had only two witnesses take the stand -- the Boulder police officers who reported to the apartment on April 14, 2009 when Toll and her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, got into loud fight.
Police entered and found Beck's shiba inu -- then named Rex -- taped to the side of his refrigerator, his paws, snout and tail bound with hair ties and packing tape.
A police report stated that Toll told police she put the dog on the fridge in an attempt to get back at her boyfriend. | Source: Daily Camera - April 13, 2010
Update posted on Apr 14, 2010 - 1:48AM |
A Boulder police officer testified Monday that he was so “caught off guard” by seeing a dog taped to the side of a refrigerator that he momentarily lost control of the scene he was there to investigate.
Officer Rick French described to the court how he let Bryan Beck enter the kitchen as he was interviewing him and tell his girlfriend, Abby Toll, to take Rex down from the side of the fridge because she was the one who put it up there.
“I see this thing and it doesn't register as a dog to me,” French testified, describing the form on the fridge as a “black blob.” “I'm looking at it and I see it starts to move.”
When Toll began to pull the animal off in a “brusque and abrupt” manner, French said he asked her to stop and proceeded to detach Rex himself.
“I'm not going to have this dog torn down and hurt anymore than it appeared it already was,” French said.
After cutting the tape and hair bands off the dog, the officer said, Rex was “bushed” and couldn't move for a long time.
“He's squirming and he's uncomfortable because as the tapes coming off it's pulling at its hair,” he testified.
He pointed to photos of Rex with deep indentations in its legs, where he said the hair bands had been applied.
French described Toll's demeanor as “matter-of-fact, non-plussed.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney George Kokus asked French if police had tested the ball of packing tape for fingerprints.
“Did they check to see if Mr. Beck's fingerprints were on it?” he asked.
French said no.
French testified that he heard a male apologizing before he knocked on the door at Beck's Boulder apartment. Kokus asked the officer if he knew what he was apologizing about. French said he didn't.
The prosecution rested its case at the end of the day.
The defense will call its first witness Tuesday morning.
Toll told Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter she wanted the evening to think about whether she would take the stand in her own defense.
UPDATED: 4:15 p.m.
Kara Jurczenia, a five-year veteran with the Boulder Police Department, was the first witness to take the stand for the prosecution.
She testified to seeing “a large mass of tape with a small black dog encased in it” attached to the fridge.
Jurczenia said she was taken aback at what she was seeing and said that Toll acted nonchalantly about the whole situation.
The officer said Toll told her she did what she did because Rex had bitten her the previous week and she wanted to get back at her boyfriend.
“She wanted to teach the dog a lesson and get back at Mr. Beck,” Jurczenia said.
UPDATED: 4 p.m.
A prosecutor told a jury Monday afternoon that what happened to a dog that was found bound and taped to a refrigerator in a Boulder apartment last year was torture.
During opening statements, Boulder County Deputy District Attorney David Cheval said Abby Toll took her time gathering up hair ties, scissors and tape at her boyfriend's apartment a year ago in preparation for taping up his iba shinu, Rex, and adhering it to his refrigerator.
“She collected her tools, her tools of torture,” Cheval said.
He said the incident occurred after the couple, celebrating their one-year anniversary of being together, got into a fight about whether Toll's boyfriend, Bryan Beck, cared more about Rex than about her.
Toll systematically bound the dog's feet, tail, and snout with the hair ties and then wrapped the animal in packaging tape, before taping him to the fridge upside down, Cheval said.
“Think about the time, the effort, and the deliberate effort it would take to do that act,” he asked the jury. “Is that torture?”
Toll's lawyer, George Kokus, implied during his opening statement that his client may not have been solely responsible for binding the dog with hair ties and tape. He did say that the 21-year-old former CU student had admitted to attaching the dog to the fridge.
Kokus told the jury that Toll was a victim of domestic violence during the April 14, 2009 incident, with Beck disabling her phone and preventing her from leaving the apartment after their blow-out.
“This bizarre behavior by Abby was taking place at the same time Mr. Beck was not allowing her to leave the apartment,” Kokus said.
UPDATED: 12:56 p.m.
A jury of six women and seven men were seated early Monday afternoon for the trial of a former University of Colorado student accused of taping her boyfriend's dog upside down to the side of a fridge.
Opening statements in Abby Toll's three-day animal cruelty trial are expected to begin after a lunch break.
The jury of 12 -- plus one alternate -- includes a stay-at-home mother, two software engineers, and a retired high school teacher with the St. Vrain Valley School District.
The attorneys in the case quizzed 25 potential jurors Monday morning, with prosecutor David Cheval asking them if they owned pets and how they felt about someone who changes their story over time.
Several potential jurors expressed strong animal rights sentiments while others said they could have an emotional reaction to evidence of animal cruelty.
Toll's lawyer, George Kokus, asked the group if they knew anyone who had been a victim of domestic violence, an element he plans to bring to the heart of his defense strategy.
Toll, 21, mostly wore a serious expression during jury selection and took notes on a legal pad.
Boulder dog-taping trial gets under way
The trial of a former University of Colorado student charged with felony animal cruelty after she allegedly bound and taped a dog to a refrigerator a year ago began with jury selection Monday morning.
Abby Toll, 21, arrived at Boulder County District Court this morning with her attorney. District Judge Maria Berkenkotter explained how jury selection will proceed. The trial is expected to last about three days and opening statements will likely be made later today.
Several animal lovers stood outside the courthouse Monday morning holding up signs proclaiming “zero tolerance” for animal abuse.
Toll was arrested on April 14, 2009 after police found a 2-year-old shiba inu -- its feet, snout and tail bound in clear packing tape, a plastic bag and elastic hair ties -- adhered to the side of a refrigerator in a Boulder home, the apparent victim of a domestic dispute between Toll and her then-boyfriend, Bryan Beck.
According to a police report, Toll said she stuck the dog to the fridge because she was angry at Beck for not getting rid of his pet after it had bitten her.
“I know this looks bad. We were going to get rid of him anyway. We usually don't do this,” she told officers when they responded to the report of a fight at Beck's apartment.
The dog, which police said appeared to be in severe pain after being released from its “tomb of tape,” has since been adopted by another family.
The case generated national headlines last year.
Toll is being tried on a single count of aggravated animal cruelty, a Class 6 felony. If convicted, she could be sentenced up to 18 months in prison.
Beck, who pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor attempted animal cruelty last summer and was given a one-year deferred sentence, may be called to testify at this week's trial. | Source: Daily Camera - April 13, 2010
Update posted on Apr 14, 2010 - 1:43AM |
An attorney for a Boulder man facing a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty for allegedly failing to help his dog, which police found taped upside down to a refrigerator, began negotiating for a plea agreement Thursday.
Beck did not attend the meeting, which was not open to the public. Instead, defense attorney Jason T. Pink met with prosecutor Patrick Haines.
Neither Pink nor Haines would discuss the possible details of a plea agreement. A hearing has been set for May 29 -- the first opportunity for Beck to accept an offer from prosecutors.
Beck, who is free on a $1,500 bond, was originally charged with false imprisonment and obstruction of a telephone, because police said he refused to let Toll leave his apartment and disabled her mobile phone.
Prosecutors said the animal-cruelty charge was added because Beck allegedly failed to help the dog after discovering his girlfriend, 20-year-old Abby Toll, had bound the canine with packaging tape and affixed it to the appliance.
Toll, who remains free on $12,500 bond, is scheduled to enter a plea in her felony animal-abuse case June 26. | Source: Colorado Daily - May 7, 2009
Update posted on May 9, 2009 - 12:15AM |
The University of Colorado student accused of taping her boyfriend's dog to a fridge will be allowed to spend the summer at her mother's home in Chicago, despite the fact her mother has a dog, a Boulder judge ruled Monday.
Abby Toll, 20, "didn't even have a traffic ticket on her record" before her April 14 arrest on suspicion of felony animal cruelty, defense attorney George Kokus said Monday in requesting that Toll be allowed to leave the state.
Boulder County Judge Noel Blum granted the request, and will require Toll to participate in a monitored sobriety program with a Chicago-area laboratory as a condition of her $12,500 bond .
"I think the defendant's mother can look out for the family pet," Blum said.
Toll, an environmental design major, also faces a felony charge of drug possession after police said was found with a trace amount of heroin while being booked into jail.
It's not clear if she's planning to return to Boulder in the fall. A call to CU to check on her status as a student was not returned Monday; nor was a call to her attorney.
Toll is accused of binding her boyfriend's 2-year-old shiba inu, Rex, in packing tape and sticking him upside down to the fridge during a fight.
Her boyfriend, Bryan Beck, also faces a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty. He is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial conference Thursday.
Rex is living with a Denver-area foster family awaiting adoption.
Another dog also living with the couple -- a Chihuahua named Peanut that was originally identified as belonging to Toll but actually belonged to Beck -- remains in the care of the Humane Society of Boulder. | Source: Colorado Daily - May 5, 2009
Update posted on May 5, 2009 - 4:04PM |
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