New features are coming soon. Login with Facebook to get an early start and help us test them out!
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 "Peoples 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 isnt enough.
Case #6507 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Greyhound's neglected, beaten to death
Austin, TX (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Mar 1, 2000
County: Travis
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Harry Franklin Roland, DDS
Dr. Harry Roland pleaded guilty on Aug. 29, 2000, to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. He was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $4,000. Roland is also required to make a $5,000 donation to the Williamson County Humane Society. He cannot own dogs or participate in racing until his probation ends. "I think other than the $9,000 fine, what we were most interested in was making sure that he stayed away from dogs for 24 months," Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson said.
Roland, 55, who has a dental practice in Round Rock, has been licensed by the Texas Board of Dental Examiners since 1982. Roland can continue to work as a dentist but must inform the board of his conviction when he renews his license in April 2001, said the board's executive director Jeffry Hill. Board members then will investigate, Hill said.
Roland was arrested March 3, 2000, on charges that he failed to obtain veterinary care for a greyhound on his Hutto farm. The dog, Corky ' s Scanner, had been leased to Roland and was racing at the Corpus Christi track until he broke a leg during a race Jan. 6, 2000. Roland brought Corky back to his farm and left him untreated for seven weeks.
Williamson County sheriffs deputies visited the farm Feb. 21, 2000, after a complaint was filed by Caria Weaver, director of the Houston chapter of Greyhound Pets of America (GPA). Weaver made the com- plaint on behalf of Corky's legal owner. The following day. Weaver and Pat Swift, GPA Houston's assistant director, accompanied by a sheriffs deputy, removed Corky from Roland's farm.
Corky required several surgeries to repair his broken leg and was treated with antibiotics for months to clear the staph infection throughout his entire body. After his recovery he was adopted and now lives with two other greyhounds north of Houston.
When deputies arrived at the farm with a warrant on March 1, 2000, they found a pile of feces near the edge of the property that contained several skeletons and eight to 10 decomposing dog carcasses, records show. Four recently killed dogs had bloody noses and ears, indicating they had been bludgeoned to death. Nearby was a tree with a large chain, a pool of blood, and a 2-1/2-foot long metal pipe with dried blood on the end.
Roland's caretaker, Mauricio Yanez, 19, was also arrested in connection with the charges. Yanez, an undocumented worker, spent nearly two months in jail before he was turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for deportation to Mexico on May 25, 2000. The county dropped all charges against Yanez and he was not required to testify against Roland.
John T. Williams, Deputy Director of the Texas Racing Commission, said Roland has been barred from all racetracks in Texas. The commission suspended Roland's license in March 2000 after it confirmed the findings of the sheriffs department. Referring to the pile of dead dogs, Williams said, "They weren't put to sleep. They were bludgeoned to death."
The NGA revoked Roland's membership and registry privileges during hearings held in Abilene April 22, 2000. Roland was expelled for " conduct detrimental to the best interests of Greyhound racing," which included negligence involving greyhounds under his care, and for failing to comply with NGA directives regarding the collection of DNA material for purposes of parentage verification.
Roland's lawyer, David Frank, said the Texas Racing Commission should have handled the case rather than the courts. "I think Roland feels that this was a particularly troubling criminal casein that none of the practices that were carried out on his farm were different from the practices carried out on the other racing farms in the state," Frank said..
Source: The Austin American-Statesman: Monica Polanco
References |
