A Murray man accused of beating a dog and placing it in an oven now faces charges.
Thirty-six-year-old Marc C. Vincent has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals after he tormented his dog, Henry, on two separate incidents in May.
Court documents say Vincent admitted to chasing and cornering the dog with a leaf blower on May eighth after his wife came home to find Henry with a swollen eye.
Court records say several weeks later, Vincent's wife came home to find her dog with burned paws. Vincent then admitted to putting Henry in a 200-degree oven for five minutes.
As of June 29, the dog was still recovering at Cottonwood Animal Hospital.
DA's contact information:
The Honorable David Yocum
2001 South State Street S3500
Salt Lake City, Utah 84190
Tel: (801)468-3300
Fax: (801)468-2985 Case UpdatesHenry's abuser, Marc Vincent, was released from jail a month and a half before he completed his sentence, even though the judge said there was no chance of early release.
We've been making calls to the state courts, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department and the jail to find out why Vincent was released early, but haven't gotten any answers. | Source: KSL - March 7, 2007
Update posted on Mar 12, 2007 - 12:58AM |
A man who admits he put his wife's dog in a 200-degree oven and put out his eye with a leaf blower was sentenced Nov 6. Marc Vincent will spend the next six months in jail, and will be on probation for two years. He also has to pay a 500-dollar fine and restitution of nearly one thousand dollars to his wife to pay for the dog's vet bills.
There were many people in court who are glad to hear he'll be punished. Vincent's wife, Rhonda Kamper showed up to court with Henry the dog in tow. Despite his injuries, including a lost eye, he's okay. But Kamper is still afraid of her husband. "Oh yeah, my heart was just pounding,� Kamper said. �I'm in fear of him. I fear that man."
Kamper says her husband told her he hurt Henry because the dog was too needy. "He told me he cooked him because he peed in his cage and tried to bite him,� Kamper said. �So he cooked him in the oven to make him mad."
That's why Kamper is so happy Vincent is going to jail. But she wishes he had shown some sign that he's sorry. "He apologized to everybody but me, so to me that shows no remorse for what he's done," Kamper said.
The director of the Humane Society of Utah, Gene Baierschmidt, is glad Vincent will go to jail, but he still wants animal abuse to be a felony in Utah ... with much more severe sentences. He says many studies link animal abuse to domestic violence. �We want to send a message that people here in Utah care about people that torture animals and it's a very serious thing and it's not just an animal welfare issue, it's actual a societal problem because it deals with child abuse and other areas of violence,� Baierscmidt said.
Kamper says she can move on with her life now. And she says the little dog who almost didn't make it will help her do that. "He's a trooper, he has a lot of willpower and he gives me mine," she said.
41 other states do call animal abuse a felony, but despite repeated attempts, the bill has never passed in Utah. Baierschmidt says he will again push to get it passed in the legislature this year. | Source: ABC 4 - Nov 6, 2006
Update posted on Nov 6, 2006 - 5:00PM |
In separate 3rd District cases being heard in courtrooms across town, two animal cruelty cases are poised for resolution in sentencing hearings this morning.
Marc Christopher Vincent is to be sentenced this morning in 3rd District court. Vincent, accused of putting his wife's dog, Henry, in a 200-degree oven for five minutes, the Humane Society of Utah is urging the "harshest sentence possible." Vincent pleaded guilty to a class-A misdemeanor of aggravated animal cruelty.
The offense, being handled at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, carries a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail. Court records in Vincent's case, which stems from a May 25 incident in Murray, indicate numerous letters have been submitted from residents as a result of public outcry.
Vincent was originally charged with two class-A misdemeanors, but one count was dismissed after he pleaded guilty Sept. 18.
After that court hearing, Vincent offered a public apology for his crime via his defense attorney. The incident happened after an argument with his wife. He chased the dog, a Chihuahua mix, with a leaf blower and then put it in the oven after he captured it. As a result, the animal lost one eye and its claws were fused together. Vincent's estranged wife has since filed for divorce. | Source: Deseret Morning News - Nov 6, 2006
Update posted on Nov 6, 2006 - 5:17AM |
County: Salt Lake
Docket #061904238
Court: 11/06/06
Contact - David Yocum
Salt Lake County District Attorney
2001 South State Street S3500
Salt Lake City, Utah 84190
Tel: (801)468-3300
Fax: (801)468-2985 | | Update posted on Oct 15, 2006 - 9:12PM |
A man who put his wife's dog in a 200-degree oven for about five minutes pleaded guilty in court Monday to one of two counts of aggravated animal cruelty.
A Humane Society of Utah official called people like Marc Vincent, who torture animals, "scumbags" and called for the public to push the courts for the maximum sentence possible when Vincent is sentenced Nov. 6.
The maximum possible penalty for a class A misdemeanor is one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. A second charge of animal cruelty was dropped in exchange for the one guilty plea.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, defense attorney Tera Haynes said her client asked her to issue a public apology on his behalf to his estranged wife, the dog named Henry and the public.
"He's ready to take his consequences," Haynes said, noting her client admits what he did "was a mistake."
Vincent "has a problem emotionally with anger" and is enrolled in a class to learn to control his anger, she said.
Vincent wore dark sunglasses and trembled as he stood next to his attorney as she answered questions from the media. Vincent did not speak to reporters.
The Humane Society of Utah is encouraging all residents to send a letter or e-mail to either 3rd District Judge William Barrett or the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office asking that Vincent receive the maximum penalty.
"Some may shrug their shoulders and say it's just a dog. But tomorrow it could be a woman or a child," said Humane Society Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt, who noted that many notorious serial killers started off by torturing animals.
"Put pressure on the district attorney and the judge to give the harshest penalty under the current law," he said.
Baierschmidt said he was pleased and surprised with Vincent's guilty plea Monday.
On May 25, Vincent, who had been arguing with his wife, chased her dog, a Chihuahua-mix less than a year old, with a leaf blower, Baierschmidt said. After catching the dog, he put it in an oven set at 200 degrees.
He took the dog out once but then put it back in, according to court records. The dog was in the oven a total of about five minutes.
As a result of the leafblower attack and the heat exposure in the oven, Henry lost an eye, his claws were fused together from the heat and he will never again be able to walk normally, Baierschmidt said.
"It's one of the worst (cases of abuse) I've ever seen," he said.
Since his arrest, Vincent's wife has filed for divorce.
In addition to pushing for the maximum penalty in this case, Baierschmidt said he will also push for a bill during the next legislative session that would make animal cruelty a felony.
As of Monday, Baierschmidt said he did not know of any animal cruelty case in Utah that resulted in a person in Utah actually spending any time in jail.
"We're trying to tell people it's a bigger issue. There's a large body of evidence that shows cruelty to animals and violence to people are linked," he said.
The proposed bill would deal specifically with torture, or prolonged agony over a period of time, which is what Baierschmidt said happened exactly in this case.
But most importantly, it would require the convicted person to receive psychological counseling, he said.
Already, he said, his office, the district attorney's office and the court have received hundreds of e-mails and letters voicing concern over the Vincent case.
Vincent was ordered to report to Adult Probation and Parole for a pre-sentence report to be completed before his next court date. | Source: Deseret Morning News - Sept 19, 2006
Update posted on Oct 4, 2006 - 7:01PM |
Mark Vincent went before a judge on Sept 5. He�s accused of putting his wife�s puppy in a 200 degree oven.
It was just a pre-trial hearing. Basically, just to set the next court date, but it was also our first look at the man accused of this horrible crime. He had nothing to say about it.
�No comment.�
The only words Mark Vincent would utter to media as he left the courtroom. His attorney scurried him out of sight.
Moments earlier he faced a judge. Animal rights activists sat in the courtroom just to see Vincent�s face.
Katharine Brant, a Humane Society Employee says, �I was curious to see what kind of person it was that would do something like that.�
Vincent�s accused of basically cooking his wife�s puppy, Henry.
Brant asks, �Can you even imagine being put in an oven for 5 minutes?�
Police say Vincent set the oven at 200 degrees and stuck Henry in on a cookie sheet. Police say Vincent admitted to the abuse, they also say he had chased the dog around with a leaf blower, causing it to lose an eye.
Utah Humane Society Director Gene Baierschmidt is hoping this will bring change in animal abuse laws.
�Right now, we�re trying to get the cruelty statutes changed in Utah make it a 3rd degree felony, right now its just a class a misdemeanor,� says Baierschmidt.
The humane society hopes this case will help push through proposed legislation to change the laws regarding animal torture. Activists want to see jail time handed out for this kind of cruelty.
�Anybody who may shrug their shoulders and say its just a dog, tomorrow it could be a wife, it could be an elderly person,� says Baierschmidt.
As for little Henry, he�s still recovering. He suffered severe burns on his stomach and feet, and it looks like, sustained permanent injuries.
�The digits on his front paws are fused together by the burns.�
If animal torture does become a 3rd degree felony, it would carry a sentence up to 5 years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Mark Vincent will next appear in court on September 18th. | Source: KUTV - Sept 5, 2006
Update posted on Oct 4, 2006 - 6:41PM |
The Murray man who was charged with putting his wife's Chihuahua in a 200-degree-oven for five minutes spoke to ABC 4 in an exclusive interview Saturday. He claimed that he has a legitimate explanation for his actions.
He said the accusation about putting the dog in the oven is a result of something he could not control, a mental illness. The man told ABC 4 News that he has been struggling with a chemical imbalance his whole life, dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
"ADHD people tend to have very low frustration levels and get very angry easily," he said. "What I'm trying to learn is ways and tools to deal with these things."
"There's some very good people that do some very bad things." He said that this is his defense for putting his wife's dog, Henry, in the oven.
This is not the first incident the man is charged with. The dog lost an eye after being hit with a leaf blower in another incident. "Why they said that was an abuse case when it was an accident," he said. "I don't know where that came from."
The man told ABC 4 that he believes mental illness can be treated with certain medicines and adequate emotional support from friends and family.
Vincent faces a misdemeanor charge with a maximum punishment of a year in jail and a 25-hundred dollar fine. If prosecutors call the case a felony, he could be sentenced up to 5 years in prison.
"I know I have a mental problem I need to work on and I'm trying to do that with therapy and trying to get medication at this time," he said. | Source: ABC 4 - July 2, 2006
Update posted on Jul 2, 2006 - 10:14PM |
The Humane Society of Utah reacted today with outrage to the news of a Murray resident who has admitted to putting his wife's dog into a 200� oven and keeping the animal there for five minutes. More than a month later, the dog is still recuperating in a veterinary hospital from the injuries suffered during that horrifying ordeal.
HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt was vehement in denouncing not only the act itself, but also the fact that under current Utah law the stiffest possible charge that can be brought against the perpetrator is that of a Class A misdemeanor. "What this scumbag did to Henry [the burned dog] represents the depth of depravity," he said.
"This is exactly the kind of mindless violence that we tried to target in last year's legislative session when Rep. Scott Wyatt (R-Logan) introduced a bill that would have made the deliberate torture of an animal a third-degree felony offense, as it already is in 41 other states. Even though the bill passed in the House by a wide majority, a handful of rural Senators kept the bill stalled in Committee and it didn't get heard. I wish those same individuals could have had a good look at Henry when he came out of the stove. THIS is what animal-cruelty legislation is all about."
Once again, the Humane Society points out that brutality to animals is much more than an issue for so-called "animal lovers."
Mr. Baierschmidt cites copious evidence showing that a great many criminals convicted of violence against other people started out by abusing animals.
"When we shrug our shoulders and say, 'Oh, well, it was just a dog,' we ought to keep in mind that a few years later the same thing could happen to a child, a woman, an elderly person - any of the other potential helpless victims of some disturbed people's violent, out-of-control impulses," he said. "That's why the legislation we proposed - and will continue to push for - would require psychological counseling in addition to severe penalties for persons who inflict torture on any other living being. That, plus the elevation of egregious acts of cruelty to felony status, would provide law enforcement with the incentive to prosecute these crimes more aggressively.
Under the current weak laws, most officials just don't feel it's worth their time to go after a case like this one, and our entire civilization is degraded by that attitude. Society as a whole is conditioned to accepting the idea that some kinds of suffering aren't significant, and certain elements of the culture conclude - correctly, in this case - that they can do pretty much anything they want to and get away with it.
Representative Wyatt will be introducing a felony animal-cruelty bill again in the 2007 legislature, and somehow we MUST make ALL our lawmakers understand why it is critical for the advancement of our entire state to put this provision on the books. What more hideous thing has to happen before they finally get it?" | Source: KUTV - June 30, 2006
Update posted on Jun 30, 2006 - 5:24PM |
Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
Back to Top References | KUTV - June 30, 2006 |
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