A hungry dog may have helped save a number of other animals housed in a Brevard County apartment. Their owner, Gregory Hynes, was arrested on his way to work.
Animal Services are taking care of several animals they say were malnourished and mistreated. But they say they have a good prognosis thanks to a rottweiler named Jewel.
Jewel has become the crown gem of sorts in the South Brevard County Animal Shelter. She's a canine hero, credited with leading to the rescue of an albino snake, an exotic bird, and Pepsi, the Australian shepherd.
"She was just, I think, got hungry, or thirsty, or just needed to go out, or what have you, but she just took it upon herself to make her bid for freedom," explains
Police say the rottweiler jumped from a second-story apartment window. When neighbors saw the dog running loose, they called animal control officers.
Authorities say the apartment manager became worried about other animals inside, went in, and found feces throughout the apartment and several dead animals, including another dog, a lizard, turtle and an exotic bird. The animals that weren't dead, authorities say were malnourished and had no fresh water.
After seeing some of the evidence, a judge declined a request by Hynes to lower the bail.
Vets are treating the animals for their ailments, but authorities say they may not have survived if it weren't for Jewel.
Hynes is being held on $250,000 bail. But under the law, the surviving animals are still his property and it's up to him to decide what happens to them. Case UpdatesA convicted animal abuser who had faced 10 years in prison will spend less than a month in jail after a Brevard judge threw out a jury�s earlier conviction on felony charges.
Greg Hynes, 26, was convicted in January on two counts of felony animal cruelty.
According to prosecutors, eight animals, including two dogs, were found starving and living in putrid conditions inside Hynes� Melbourne apartment in 2004.
Hynes� lawyer, Patrick Lepore, filed motions for a new trial and an acquittal of charges based on errors he said prosecutors made during trial and what he called insufficient evidence to prove the felony charges.
Today, Judge George Maxwell said the state�s felony animal cruelty statute is vague, and that the misdemeanor statute -- which defines cruelty as confinement without sufficient food or water, and abandonment -- took precedence.
Maxwell acquitted Hynes of the two felony animal abuse charges and reduced them to two misdemeanors, which carry a maximum penalty of two years in county jail.
Citing a court-ordered pre-sentence investigation that recommended one year in jail for Hynes based on the felony conviction, Maxwell sentenced the man to one year in jail with six months suspended, followed by one year probation.
Lepore said Hynes will receive credit for 151 days time served -- reducing his jail sentence to approximately one month.
Based on questions that he said �were left unanswered� during trial, Maxwell also ordered a psychiatric evaluation upon Hynes� release. | Source: FloridaToday.com - June 7, 2007
Update posted on Jun 8, 2007 - 1:44PM |
Denise Brooker's Australian shepherd is an energetic pooch with lustrous, brown-black fur, piercing brown eyes and a loud bark.
But before her rescue two years ago, Gidget was a listless canine named Pepsi who stank of urine and feces, whose ribs poked through matted fur on top of wobbly legs.
And Gidget was a lucky one.
"It was absolutely sickening," Brooker, 49, of Rockledge said of the eight dead and dying animals seized from Greg Hynes' Wickham Village apartment in late 2004, hours after a Rottweiler leaped from a second-story window.
Today, Hynes' attorney will ask Judge George Maxwell to overturn Hynes' felony conviction on two counts of animal cruelty for the mistreatment of Gidget and the death of Frisco, another dog found in the apartment. The January verdict could land Hynes 10 years in prison at his sentencing, tentatively scheduled for Friday, if his lawyer fails to win him a new trial.
Hynes, 26, pleaded not guilty, but he told police he withheld food and water from the animals as a form of discipline.
Hynes' mother, Laurel Hynes of Lakeland, said her son -- who worked in a veterinarian's office as a teen -- grew up caring for his family's gerbils, fish, turtles, dogs and birds, and has rescued and nursed dozens of other animals.
Hynes and his attorney, Patrick Lepore, declined to comment.
"He's never changed his attitude toward animals," Laurel Hynes told FLORIDA TODAY. "It's devastating to see how people want to punish him when they don't know the whole thing. . . . He would never ever intentionally harm an animal."
David Isnardi was the first Brevard County Animal Services officer to respond to Hynes' home. A maintenance worker had found the injured rottweiler, called for help and went into the apartment, where he encountered a stomach-turning stench and rotting carcasses.
"It was the worst animal cruelty case I'd ever seen," Isnardi said. "Mr. Hynes was not remorseful. Mr. Hynes believed in all his heart that he did nothing wrong, which is very scary."
Even seasoned Melbourne police and Animal Services officers who entered apartment No. 237 on Nov. 30, 2004, said they were shocked. Photos show feces and feathers throughout the apartment, and feces smeared on the kitchen floor.
Including the rottweiler, they found eight animals: One parrot was alive, but another lay dead at the bottom of its cage. A lizard and turtle lay dead in separate tanks. Barely alive in another tank was an albino boa constrictor, loose skin draping its body.
Frisco, the dog, also was dead, his stomach bloated and hair falling out.
"His paws were caked in blood because he fought to get out of that cage," Isnardi said. "You could actually see where the nails had broke in the cage."
Pepsi was curled in a ball in the kitchen. Lying quietly in her own waste and losing hair, she'd dropped from a healthy 43 pounds to 21.
"She was so thin, I pushed into her stomach and my fingers could touch the back of her stomach," Isnardi said. "I'm surprised she lived."
Hynes offered several explanations about why police found what they did. According to police reports and court testimony in January, Hynes first said he'd paid a caregiver, whose name he could not remember, $300 to care for the pets. Then he said he was having financial trouble and couldn't afford food, but police pointed out full containers of bird and dog food.
Hynes then said he withheld the food as a way to punish the animals for not behaving as well as Jewel, the rottweiler.
Jurors did not hear the confession.
But juror Dale Raether said it was a copy of the lease tying Hynes to the apartment and the photos that led to jurors' guilty verdict.
"He had to have been in and out of the building (to feed the surviving animals), and yet he was just letting (the feces and dead animals) sit there," Raether said. "It gave a strong impression he intentionally withheld food and water from the animals."
Hynes' lawyer, Lepore, made a strong case that there could have been another explanation, but Raether said there was no evidence or witnesses to that effect.
Hynes did not testify.
In his motion for a new trial, Lepore said prosecutors failed to prove key elements of their case: what caused Pepsi's appearance and weakened condition in 2004, that Frisco died cruelly or that Hynes even owned the animals.
Prosecutors also failed to prove Hynes committed any overtly cruel act, such as beating or shooting the animals, a necessary element of felony animal cruelty, Lepore said in court filings.
He said Hynes was "at best" guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty, or confinement and abandonment without sufficient water, food and exercise -- violations that carry a maximum of one year in jail or a $5,000 fine.
Even then, Lepore said, withholding food for about 30 hours cited in court documents does not fall under the category of cruelty. "The jury verdict in this case was a verdict based on emotion and not the law," Lepore wrote.
Fueled by a desire to seek justice for Gidget, Brooker adopted the dog after she saw Hynes' story and renamed her Gidget. She has spent countless hours poring over documents related to the case and attending nearly every hearing during the past two years.
If a new trial is not ordered, Brooker will testify on Gidget's behalf at Hynes' sentencing.
She wants answers.
"I have never heard Greg Hynes speak," Brooker said. "That kills me because I want to hear his guilt, I want to hear him be remorseful and tell us why he did it. I want him to say, 'I made a mistake.' " | Source: Florida Today - April 11, 2007
Update posted on Apr 11, 2007 - 1:31PM |
Brevard Circuit Judge George Maxwell on Wednesday postponed the sentencing of a convicted animal abuser to consider whether the man deserves a new trial.
Greg Hynes, 26, of Melbourne faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on two counts of felony animal cruelty.
Hynes' attorney, Patrick Lepore, said Wednesday his client was wrongly convicted because of mistakes made during the January trial.
Hynes was accused in 2004 of starving eight animals in his Wickham Village apartment, resulting in the deaths of four.
Lepore said the case was compromised when prosecutors submitted Hynes' apartment lease into evidence, which he said violated discovery rules requiring opposing sides disclose any evidence they intend to present at trial.
Lepore also said prosecutors did not prove several key elements of felony animal cruelty, and that Hynes should have been tried at most for two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty -- either for failing to provide adequate sustenance and shelter or with confinement and abandonment without sufficient water, food and exercise. He could face up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted of both those counts.
"Even in a light most favorable to the state, the crime that they charged -- felony animal cruelty -- was inappropriate," Lepore said.
Without agreeing to their validity, Maxwell said he was concerned with Lepore's allegations.
He canceled Hynes' scheduled Friday sentencing and rescheduled it for June 7 to allow himself time to review the defense motion and to allow prosecutors to submit any additional rebuttal arguments.
Hynes will remain in the Brevard County jail pending Maxwell's decision. | Source: Florida Today - April 12, 2007
Update posted on Apr 12, 2007 - 11:21AM |
Following a two-day trial last month, a former Melbourne resident has been found guilty of two counts of felony animal abuse.
Gregory Hynes, 26, was then remanded into custody.
Currently, an inmate at the Brevard County Jail, Mr. Hynes awaits the results of a defense motion asking the judge to grant a new trial.
That hearing, filed by his attorney, Patrick LePore, is set for March 28.
After a two-man, four-woman jury spent less than an hour deliberating, Circuit Judge George Maxwell III announced sentencing would take place Friday, April 13.
In December 2004, Mr. Hynes was originally charged with eight counts of felony animal abuse after reports of a malnourished Rottweiler jumping from a second-story window led Melbourne police to discover seven more dead or dying animals inside his rented apartment.
As the case went through the justice system, six of the charges were eventually dropped.
According to the original Melbourne Police Department report, investigators who went inside Mr. Hynes' apartment, first found two birds; one dead, the other barely alive.
A lizard lay deceased in its tank, while a soft shell turtle was dead on the balcony.
Inside a locked cage with hair falling off its bloated body, an Australian shepherd was also discovered lying dead on its side.
Elsewhere, other malnourished animals, including an albino Boa constrictor and another Australian shepherd - found confined to the kitchen - were all confiscated.
Animal control officers brought them to a shelter for medical treatment.
Police said the only animal with water in a bowl was the snake.
While bird and dog food was discovered, none appeared to have recently been distributed in the animal feces-littered apartment.
Later arrested in a traffic stop, Mr. Hynes was taken to the Brevard County Jail where his bond - originally set at $250,000 - was reduced to $8,000.
After the county won a judgment against him, the remaining animals were eventually adopted out.
Denise and Steve Brooker of Rockledge fell in love with the Australian shepherd, renaming her Gidget.
When Mrs. Brooker first brought Gidget home she said, the dog was afraid of things such as the night, being left alone and confined spaces.
"She really didn't know how to play with me or other dogs," she said. "Gidget enjoys all of that now. She has become such a social butterfly - completely different from when we brought her home."
Last month, Mrs. Brooker met with three friends to discuss the implications behind what they called one of the worst animal cruelty cases in the county's history.
"Using publicly available information, Pet-abuse.com reports that since 2000, at least 13 serious animal abuse cases have come in front of Brevard County judges," said Michele Jenkins of Palm Bay. "We're trying to make sure the courts deal with each one appropriately."
According to a study by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people, and four times more likely to commit property crimes than those without a history of animal abuse.
"That's one reason why we took such an interest in this case," said Fay Bellamy of Merritt Island, who said she has been at the Moore Justice Center every time Mr. Hynes' name was due to come up on the docket.
Throughout the many court appearances before Mr. Hynes' case was handed to the jury, his parents sat on one side while many other supporters of the three women filled the other side of court room 4D.
On one occasion, former animal control officer David Isnardi asked, but did not receive, permission to address the court.
Mr. Isnardi, who now works for the clerk of the courts office, was a first responder when the original loose canine call came in.
In his written statement, he said that even after 22 years as a U.S. paratrooper he had "never seen anything that was so deliberate and evil (done) to God's helpless creatures."
According to the incident report submitted by then-Officer Isnardi, Mr. Hynes had "indicated that he used food in an attempt to punish his animals, and still wasn't sure when the last time the animals were fed."
Early on in the case, Mr. LePore, the publicly appointed defender, successfully convinced Judge Maxwell to dismiss the confession that Mr. Hynes had given to Officer Isnardi and another colleague.
The confession was something Mrs. Brooker, who works at the Kennedy Space Center, said she wished the jury could have heard from, or about.
"I was very worried things were not going to go our way," she said. "For example, Mr. Hynes could not be placed at the scene of the crimes. Without the confession, there was just a lot of circumstantial evidence.
"Thankfully the jury, who spent only about an hour in actual court, what with all the motions to object and suppress, came back with the two guilty verdicts."
Lyn Miraglia of Melbourne said she plans to be at the April 13 sentencing.
"We're not a bunch of animal activists - we didn't even know each other before this," she said. "But if we don't speak out for the helpless ones who can't, who will?" | Source: Hometown News - March 2007
Update posted on Mar 4, 2007 - 10:51PM |
On January 26, Gregory Hynes was convicted by a jury on 2 felony counts of animal cruelty. After the verdict was read, Mr. Hynes was taken into custody and he is in jail at this time.
The defense will file a motion for a new trial within the next ten days.
Sentencing is set for April 13th. | | Update posted on Jan 27, 2007 - 1:51PM |
| Jury selection begins tomorrow, January 23rd, with opening arguments either late the same day, or Wednesday morning, January 24th. | | Update posted on Jan 22, 2007 - 9:09PM |
| Gregory Hynes is next due in court on January 22, 2007 at 8:30 a.m., at which time a new trial date will be set. | Source: Case No. 05-2004-CF-067015
Update posted on Jan 9, 2007 - 4:14PM |
| After several continuances, trial is set to begin on January 8, 2007 (time TBA) at the Moore Justice Center located at 2825 Jamieson Way, Viera, FL 32940. | Source: 18th Judicial Circuit Court
Update posted on Jan 3, 2007 - 4:25PM |
| Trial has been postponed until some point in September. | | Update posted on Jul 24, 2006 - 9:48AM |
| On November 23, 2005, the dismissal was denied and a trial date of March 6, 2006 was scheduled; it had been rescheduled to April 24, 2006 but was then rescheduled again to July 24, 2006 at 9:00 AM at the Viera Courthouse, Courtroom D. | Source: ALDF - 2006
Update posted on May 11, 2006 - 10:39PM |
On November 29th the court held a hearing on the defense's motion to dismiss all 8 felony counts. The Judge denied the motion. The defense stated that they wanted to go to trial. The Judge indicated during the hearing that there would be incarceration in this case.
Trial has been set for March 6, 2006, however, the defense has reportedly already approached the State about a plea offer. The prosecutor believes that there will be a plea after the holidays - and not go to trial.
The pretrial conference is set for December 19th. | | Update posted on Nov 30, 2005 - 4:49PM |
| Hynes' attorney has filed a motion to dismiss. The hearing is set for November 23rd at 9:00 a.m. Animal advocates who can attend are urged to do so. | | Update posted on Nov 8, 2005 - 12:02PM |
The ABA Plea Hearing was held on Oct 11th where the Judge denied the defense's request for the ABA Plea.
According to reports, members of the public (inlcuding inidividuals who had adopted some of the victims) were ready to speak at the hearing, however, the defense argued that he has never seen a case where the general public is allowed to speak. The Judge asked the two sides to do their homework and find some case law on who can speak for the victim animals.
Another Pre-Trial conference is scheduled for December 19th, at 9:00 a.m. Members of the public are once again asked to attend again and show their support for the prosecution of this case. | | Update posted on Oct 13, 2005 - 8:58AM |
Hynes is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, October 11, 2005, at 1:15 p.m., before Judge George W. Maxwell III. Animal advocates who can attend are urged to do so.
Moore Justice Center
4th Floor, Courtroom D.
2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way - Bldg. D.
Viera, Florida 32940 | | Update posted on Oct 4, 2005 - 8:03AM |
The Judge ruled dismissing Mr. Hynes' motion to suppress the evidence during the Aug 2 hearing. Judge Maxwell indicated that it was very close, and that it easily could have gone for the defense.
The State will not offer another plea agreement to Mr. Hynes. The plea agreement was for 6 months in County jail, never own animals again, probation, and get psychological treatment. They also had dropped it from 8 counts (3rd degree felonies) to 2 counts.
Before the hearing, the prosecutor amended the information to all 8 counts. Now Mr. Hynes must either plea to all 8 counts or go to trial. The maximum for each count is 5 years in jail.
To write to Judge Maxwell asking that Mr. Hynes be sentenced to the fullest extent possible, never have contact with animals, and most importantly, obtain psychological treatment (please be sure to refer to Case No. 05-2004-CF-067015):
Honorable George W. Maxwell III
Moore Justice Center
2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Bldg. D
Viera, Florida 32940 | | Update posted on Aug 7, 2005 - 7:04AM |
| The defense has filed a motion to suppress the evidence, alleging that the search was illegal. A hearing is going to be held on August 2, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. The case is set for a pre-trial conference on August 29, 2005, at 9:30 a.m., at which time the defendant can plead guilty or go to trial. | | Update posted on Aug 1, 2005 - 8:12AM |
Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
Back to Top References | WFTV - Dec 2, 2004 | | Local 6 News - Dec 2, 2004 |  | Case No. 05-2004-CF-067015, State of Florida Vs. Gregory W. Hynes 200 |
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