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. 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. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #2617 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Animals left without care
Presque Isle, ME (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Aug 4, 2004
County: Aroostook
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Lorraine Butt
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
A local woman who left nearly a dozen animals, including two that died, unattended in her home for five days has been summoned on a cruelty to animals charge. Lorraine Butt, 55, of 42 Dragon Drive in Presque Isle was summoned Wednesday and is to appear in 2nd District Court in Presque Isle on Sept. 22. She will appear next week and try to get her confiscated pets returned to her.
Sgt. Laurie Kelly of the Presque Isle Police Department said there had been concerns for some weeks about animals at Butt's home. Two or three weeks ago, Butt had contacted the town office to get assistance to have her cats neutered and spayed.
City officials were concerned that Butt might have more animals than she could care for.
In May, there had been a complaint that Butt was not caring for her dogs. A city animal officer gave her an order to comply.
"She had complied, but has since slipped downhill," Kelly said Thursday.
On Tuesday, police went to the Butt home because of a complaint about smells. They found a dead cat in the front yard, and in the back yard, a dead dog, whose body was decomposing.
At the home Tuesday, Kelly found two garbage cans full of feces, and two others full of an unknown liquid.
Police tried to contact Butt several times Tuesday, but could not. Police had gone there because of complaints of odors from the property.
Wednesday, police arrived with a search warrant and written authority to remove animals. They confiscated one dog, five cats and two rabbits. There were still seven stray cats left, Kelly said.
"The cats that were confiscated [were] very skinny, and kittens and one adult cat had eye infections and upper respiratory infections from ammonia in urine," Kelly said.
She said the dog that was found alive seemed healthy but uncared for. There had been no food and water, at least from the time police first went to the house Tuesday.
Kelly said police found out from neighbors Tuesday that Butt had not been at the home since Friday. She was there when police arrived Wednesday.
The dead cat on the front lawn had been removed, but police found it in the back of the house with the dead dog.
Police asked Butt on Wednesday to clean the house and property. She was given some assistance by private residents and city services.
"She's doing a good job in cleaning up the place now that she has help," Kelly said. The one count of cruelty to animals incorporates all the animals, Kelly said.
Case UpdatesButt was convicted Friday on one charge of cruelty to animals. She appeared in 2nd District Court in Presque Isle for her criminal trial on the charge, which was made in July after police found two dead animals and containers full of feces and urine on her Dragon Drive property.
In sentencing Butt, Judge Bernard O'Mara transferred a $500 fine into 100 hours of community service, required her to pay back $120 for costs incurred by the city because of the incident and ordered her not to own or possess any animals for five years.
"I don't think that's fair," Butt said, her voice choked with emotion, in response to the sentence. "Even God knows I didn't do this deliberately."
Her teenage daughter, who sat by Butt's side during the proceeding, slammed a door after she heard the decision and left the courtroom.
Assistant District Attorney Carrie Linthicum laid out a case indicating Butt's inability to provide a minimum standard of care for animals in her possession.
Neighbor Kevin Anderson testified of the "ungodly stench of death" that prompted his family in early August to lodge a complaint with the Presque Isle Police Department.
Presque Isle resident Randy Houlton testified about calling police last summer after spotting a dead dog hanging out of Butt's car. Observing that the windows were rolled up, Houlton said that he yelled at Butt for leaving a dog in her vehicle on a hot summer day.
Sgt. Laurie Kelly of the Presque Isle department and Jennifer Howlett, animal control officer, described the "deplorable" conditions they found inside Butt's home - piles of dirty dishes, feces on the floor and a bathtub filled with scummy water.
Kelly and Howlett observed the conditions after police obtained a search warrant and removed on Aug. 4 one dog, five cats and two rabbits from the property. After the pets were taken to the Central Aroostook Humane Society, the dog and several cats had to be euthanized. During searches of the property, police found a maggot-infested dog carcass - the dog that died in Butt's car - and a dead kitten.
Butt represented herself in the trial. Through her own testimony and that of her daughter, Colleen Butt, she described a situation that got out of hand and was compounded by a lack of money.
The stench her neighbor described later was revealed to be raw sewage that Butt was storing in garbage cans because her pipes were broken and she did not have the money to fix them.
As for the dead dog Houlton found, Butt said that she left it alone in the car for only a few minutes and that the animal caught its neck between the seat and the interior door of the car and choked to death. She added that she tried to bury the animal but there were too many tree roots in her back yard. | Source: Bangor News - Dec 4, 2004
Update posted on Feb 15, 2005 - 11:29AM |
| Butt was arraigned Wednesday in 2nd District Court in Presque Isle.Lorraine Butt, 55, of Presque Isle will be tried in district court on Dec. 3. | Source: Bangor News - Sept 23, 2004
Update posted on Sep 24, 2004 - 5:05AM |
References« ME State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Aroostook County, ME
|
