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 #6768 Rating: 3.2 out of 5
Dog fatally gunned down by farmer
Warrensburg, MO (US)Incident Date: Friday, Dec 31, 1869
County: Johnson
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Leonidas Hornsby
Charles Burden owned a dog, and he was named ``Old Drum.'' He was a great hunting dog. Any time that dog barked one could know for sure that it was on the scent of a raccoon or other animal.
Leonidas Hornsby was a farmer who raised livestock and some of his calves and lambs were being killed by animals. He, therefore, swore to shoot any animal, any dog that appeared on his property. One day there appeared on his property a hound. Someone said: "There's a dog out there in the yard." Hornsby said: "Shoot him." The dog was killed. Burden, the owner of the dog, was not the kind of man to take something like this lightly. He went to court. He won his case and was awarded $25. Hornsby appealed, and, if I recall, on the appeal there was a reversal, whereupon the owner of the dog decided to employ the best lawyer that he could find in the area. He employed a lawyer by the name of George Graham Vest. This lawyer gave a summation to the jury. Here is [part of] what he said: ...
"Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow, and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.
When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the Sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth and outcast into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies.
And when the last scene of all comes, death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends desert him and pursue their way, there by his grave side will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true, even unto death."
George Vest won the case. It was 1869 or 1870. In 1879 he ran for the U.S. Senate and was elected and served in the Senate for 24 years. The citizens in Warrensburg, MO, decided to build a statue to Old Drum, and that statue stands today in the courtyard at Warrensburg. Harry Truman contributed $250 to the building of the statue. References« MO State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Johnson County, MO
|
