Cat poisoned, squirrel shot in the eye
Denver, PA (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 20, 2005
County: Lancaster

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Jeffrey J Dennis

A Pennsylvania man who apparently pleaded guilty on September 20 to fatally torturing two animals in his basement won't spend a day in jail. In fact, he can go to any local shelter and adopt any number of animals, if he so wishes.

The convicted is Jeffrey J. Dennis, 50, of 542 Main St. in Denver, Pennsylvania. It was in that home's basement in October and November 2004 that, according to news sources, Dennis poisoned a cat with refrigerator coil cleaner-apparently spraying into her face or force-feeding her the poison through a tube shoved down her throat-and shot a squirrel in her eye with a BB gun before stabbing her with a screwdriver. The animals had evidently wandered into traps in Dennis's backyard.

Despite his apparent recognition of the common pathological roots of such crimes and ordering of Dennis to undergo a psychological evaluation and anger-management counseling, Judge Emanuel Cassimatis-acting as a visiting judge in Lancaster County-alarmingly spared the killer every one of the 180 days he faced in prison. Further, His Honor failed to bar Dennis from owning animals for even an hour.

References

• PETA - October 2005
• Lancaster Co - September 21, 2005

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