CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. If were to vote 1 star all on every convicted case (meaning they felt the punishment was very weak), it will not help us isolate the cases that truly rise above for poor to excellent sentencing. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more, so the more honest you are, the better these programs will. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Dog-fighting - 17 dogs
Yonkers, NY (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003
County: Westchester
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Dean Clymer
» Jaron Bratton
» Kyle Ellison
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Two Yonkers men were convicted of felony charges that they trained pit bulls to fight in a basement where police found 17 dogs living in squalid conditions.
Dean Clymer, 37, and Jaron Bratton, 18, were found guilty of prohibition of animal fighting but acquitted of felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals. The verdict by Westchester County Judge Kenneth Lange followed a non-jury trial that ended last week. The men face up to four years in state prison when Lange sentences them March 5, 2004.
�
Both men also were convicted of eight misdemeanor counts of overdriving and torturing animals, because some of the animals showed obvious injuries. They were acquitted of those charges involving the remaining nine dogs. Bratton was convicted � and Clymer acquitted � of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, involving a pit bull that had been taken from the Yonkers Animal Shelter.
Donald Roth Jr., Clymer's lawyer, said he was disappointed by the felony conviction, but satisfied that his client was not found to have intentionally hurt any animals.
"It was our position that Dean was breeding pit bulls to sell, not for fighting," Roth said. "The judge obviously found that there was training, but that the injuries the dogs sustained during the training did not rise to the level of aggravated cruelty to animals."
Bratton claimed that he was only at the building because he needed a place to keep his two pit bulls in exchange for cleaning and feeding the rest of the dogs.
A third defendant, Kyle Ellison, pleaded guilty to prohibition of animal fighting on the day the trial began, and was promised a probationary sentence with up to six months in the county jail. He was not called to testify during the trial.
Police raided the basement at 101 Fernbrook St. in Jan.�2003 �after getting a tip about a dog-fighting ring there. Police found most of the dogs were malnourished and several were wounded. Three were euthanized that week and four others over the past several months because of psychological or physical injuries they suffered.
Albert Walker, the chief dog control officer at the Yonkers Animal Shelter, said yesterday he would have preferred if the defendants were convicted of all the felonies, but hoped the verdict would send a message to others in Yonkers who are abusing pit bulls and training them for dog fighting.
"It was really disgusting what we witnessed when we went in there," Walker said. "It's sad the things people will do to animals. I know others are still doing this stuff, we just haven't caught them yet. These two need to go to state prison. Maybe then people will stop doing this."
Walker said eight of the dogs have been adopted and two remain at the shelter.
It was Clymer's second conviction related to training dogs to fight. He pleaded guilty this year to assisting in fighting animals in Ocean County, N.J., and was sentenced to probation.
Assistant District Attorney Julia Cornachio asked Lange to send Clymer and Bratton to jail to await sentencing. But Roth and Bratton's lawyer, Paul Pickelle, argued that the men had made all their previous court appearances while out on bail. Lange allowed Clymer and Bratton to remain free on $10,000 bond, but warned them that he would sentence them to maximum terms if they skipped bail and failed to show up for sentencing.
Case UpdatesClymer was sentenced April 2, 2004 to two years in the Westchester County penitentiary. Despite prior convictions for drug activity and animal fighting, Clymer was spared a state prison sentence because Westchester County Judge Kenneth Lange said he wanted to ensure that the 37-year-old defendant remained near the three children he supports.
The judge said it was not to be lenient with Clymer, especially since he would likely be incarcerated for about the same amount of time as if he had gotten the maximum 1 1/2- to 4-year state prison sentence.
"I don't for a minute believe ... you were not in the animal fighting business," the judge told Clymer, referring to the defendant's repeated denials in the case.
Following a nonjury trial in November, Lange found Clymer and Jaron Bratton, 19, guilty of prohibition of animal fighting, a felony punishable by up to four years in state prison, and misdemeanor crimes of mistreating and not feeding the dogs that were kept in the basement that Clymer leased.
The pair were acquitted of aggravated cruelty to animals, and Lange said yesterday that was because the pit bulls had not suffered the grievous and unconscionable acts for which that felony charge was reserved.
"Although the evidence did establish some disgusting, heartless and very neglectful treatment of animals," Lange added.
Police raided 101 Fernbrook St. on Jan. 14, 2003, after getting a tip that a dog-fighting ring was in the basement, and found 17 pit bulls. The basement was filthy, all the dogs were malnourished and some were injured. Three had to be euthanized immediately, and four others were eventually put to death because of their physical or psychological injuries from being used as bait in the training.
Judge Lange sentenced Bratton in April 2004 to a year in the county penitentiary and adjudicated him as a youthful offender. A third defendant, Kyle Ellison, who acknowledged that he was hired to walk the dogs, pleaded guilty before trial and was sentenced to probation.
Clymer was also convicted of criminally possessing a hypodermic instrument, both at the basement and at his home. In addition to a one-year sentence for the animal-treatment convictions, Lange gave Clymer a one-year term to run consecutively for the syringe at his home, saying his past convictions meant he knew such possession was illegal.
Assistant District Attorney Julia Cornachio requested the maximum state prison sentence.
"He still doesn't take what he did that seriously," she said. "He needs to be punished for his crimes."
Clymer continuously denied that he had done anything wrong with the pit bulls, or was training them to fight, despite his guilty plea in New Jersey last year to similar charges. He apologized yesterday to his community and family and asked Lange for leniency. His lawyer, Barry Warhit, requested a sentence shorter than the maximum.
Clymer had also faced a fine of up to $25,000, but Lange declined to impose one, saying his children would unfairly suffer if Clymer had to pay a fine.
Warhit represented Clymer only for the sentencing. Clymer had gone to trial with Donald Roth as his lawyer, even though Roth was under indictment on federal witness tampering and obstruction of justice charges. Roth and his investigator were convicted in February and face up to five years in federal prison when sentenced in June.
Source: Update posted on Apr 7, 2004 - 8:49PM |
References« NY State Animal Cruelty Map
|
