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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #3500 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Dog stabbed to death
Overland Park, KS (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Aug 31, 2004
County: Johnson
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Felix Vargas
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
An Overland Park woman thinks her neighbor may have killed her dog because she turned down his sexual advances. Felix Vargas, 25, is charged with animal cruelty in connection with the stabbing death of a Labrador at 7575 W. 106th St.
The dog's owner told KMBC's Peggy Breit that she rejected Vargas in September.
One week later, she said she found Vargas standing next to the dog while the dog was bleeding heavily.
A veterinarian said the Labrador was stabbed in the neck.
Vargas is charged with a misdemeanor, but Johnson County Prosecutor Paul Morrison said he doesn't want the case to be glossed over.
"I think stabbing anything through the neck is pretty serious and pretty cruel obviously, and has a lot of sinister overtones to it," Morrison said.
Vargas is in the Johnson County Jail with a bond of $10,000. He is due back in court Jan. 6.
Prosecuting attorney:
The Honorable Paul J. Morrison
Johnson County District Attorney
100 N. Kansas Ave., P.O. Box 728
Olathe, KS 66051
Case UpdatesLast month, Felix Vargas was convicted of killing a dog with a boxcutter. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but just a few weeks later he was set free.
Vargas was found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty. He claimed he killed the dog in self-defense because the dog jumped on him. The dog's owner, Elizabeth Williams, of Overland Park, Kan., told a different story in court. She said Vargas viciously killed her dog after she rebuffed his sexual advances.
"The dog was not a dangerous or an aggressive dog," said Ann Divine.
Divine testified in the case. She placed the dog, Max, with Williams nine months before the dog was stabbed to death.
"We knew that the dog could not have done anything to provoke him to have to pull a box-cutting knife out of his pocket and cut the dog's throat," Divine said.
After Vargas was found guilty, the judge left open the possibility of early probation. Augustine said that Vargas' lawyer successfully argued that overriding family concerns should send him home from jail.
Divine said that she worries about the decision. She said it softens up what she saw as a potentially get-tough approach toward animal abuse. | Source: The Kansas City Channel - June 24, 2005
Update posted on Jun 24, 2005 - 8:15PM |
Felix Vargas was placed on probation Friday (June 10) after serving 43 days in jail. Although he maintains that he acted in self-defense, Vargas plans to request a dismissal in the appeal of his conviction on animal cruelty charges in Johnson County District Court, according to defense attorney Adrian Gilby.
Vargas, 25, of Overland Park, was placed on probation for one year. He was ordered to have no contact with the woman who owned Maxx, the 4-year-old Labrador retriever that he killed.
The incident occurred last September at an Overland Park apartment complex.
Vargas testified at his trial in May that after the dog lunged at him, he swung at the dog with a utility knife.
Prosecutors alleged that Vargas killed Maxx because of an earlier altercation with the dog's owner, Elizabeth Williams. She testified that Vargas had made a rude sexual comment to her and that Maxx had growled at him.
District Judge Peter Ruddick found Vargas guilty of the misdemeanor charge and sentenced him to the maximum one-year jail sentence.
He denied a request for probation then, but scheduled a probation hearing for July 13.
Gilby, who was recently appointed to represent Vargas after another attorney withdrew from the case, asked for Friday's hearing, saying that Vargas is needed to support his family, including a severely disabled son. He said that serving a few more days of jail "shock time" would serve no purpose.
Ruddick said he had planned to grant Vargas probation on July 13 and agreed with Gilby's argument. | Source: Kansas City Star - June 11, 2005
Update posted on Jun 11, 2005 - 12:15PM |
Felix Vargus is sentance to jail for 1 year after killing a woman's dog.
May 9, 2005, a judge found Felix Vargas guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
In his testimony, Vargas admitted he punctured his neighbor's dog, named Maxx, in the throat with a boxcutter in September 2004 -- but he did it in self-defense because the dog jumped on him.
The dog's owner told a different story in court. She stated Vargas viciously killed her dog after she rebuffed his sexual advances.
After finding Vargas guilty, the judge chastised Williams for failing to obey local leash laws. The judge said he decided the case strictly on the dog's injuries and did not factor in the vengeance accusation. | Source: The Kansas City Channel - May 9, 2005
Update posted on May 10, 2005 - 9:09AM |
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