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 #4673 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Cat trapped, left to die in +90° temperatures
Aurora, CO (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jul 4, 2000
County: Arapahoe
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Lance Kraft
Lance Kraft, 45, reportedly trapped a cat in a wire cage and let it die in temperatures that were over +90° resulting in the cat dying an excruciating death.
Judge Mary Dulacki said, "That cat was cooked in a cage." He was convicted of illegal trapping, animal cruelty, improper care of a confined animal and endangering an animal and sentenced to a day in jail. He was also ordered to pay $500 in fines to a non-kill cat shelter and pay $394 in restitution to the family of the cat he killed. Nine days in jail were suspended provided he has no trouble with the law and refrains from trapping for one year.
He was charged with the July 4th death of Taz, an 18-month old house cat. Taz died during a near-record string of 17 consecutive 90 plus degree days. The cat was covered in blood trying to escape the cage and left patches of gray and white hair on the cage.
It is legal to trap cats with a $10 license. The requirement states there should be enough food to protect the cat after he has been trapped.
Kraft testified he started trapping cats in 1993 and has caught well over 200 at his home in the 19000 block of East 19th Avenue. The cats were defecating in a backyard sandbox used by his wife's home day care business and were trashing the yard.
The jury found Kraft's license had expired and he did not do enough to protect the cat once it had been trapped.
He said Taz was the only cat he ever found dead in one of his traps.
Kraft suggests perhaps someone else put the cat in his trap after it had died. References« CO State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Arapahoe County, CO
|
