Case Snapshot
Case ID: 9605
Classification: Mutilation/Torture, Burning - Fire or Fireworks
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
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Wednesday, Sep 6, 2006

County: Fulton

Charges: Felony CTA, Felony Non-CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 2 files available

Defendants/Suspects:
» Justin Moulder
» Joshua Moulder

Case Updates: 18 update(s) available

Two Atlanta brothers are in custody at the Fulton County jail charged with the torture death of a five-month old puppy and trashing a local apartment complex.

Seventeen-year old Joshua Molder and 18-year old Justin Molder are being held without bond.

The Molder brothers stand accused of covering a puppy with paint, hog tying it, trying to set it on fire and when that didn't work, baking the puppy to death in an oven.

Inez Marshal is president of the community association at the Englewood Manor Apartments in southeast Atlanta where Joshua and Justin Molder lived.

She was called to the rec center the night the brothers were arrested for breaking into the newly remodeled building and trashing it.

"They just totally demolished the community center," said Marshal.

She said she'll never forget finding the puppy the boys stand accused of torturing and killing.

"He was still in the oven; he was tied," said Marshal.

"All four feet were tied together, his mouth was duct taped and he was dipped in beige paint," she added.

"Not only did they not have an explanation, apparently they went out and bragged about this to other young people in the community, brought them back and showed them their work," said District Attorney Paul Howard.

The Moulder brothers are charged with burglary, criminal damage to property and aggravated cruelty to animals.


Case Updates

A new witness has stepped forward to say one of two brothers recently convicted of baking a puppy to death inside a gas oven took no part in the torture.

The version of events described by Jody Horsley Jr., the 20-year-old brother of the two Moulders now sentenced to 10 years in prison, paints a different role for Justin Moulder, while still condemning Joshua Moulder.

Told of Horsley's description of events by a reporter, neither a police investigator, who never talked to Horsley, nor the prosecutor are inclined to believe the story. Horsley acknowledged that by coming forward, he could be charged with a crime.

Horsley talked with a reporter as defense lawyers expect to move next week to reduce the harsh sentences received by both teens. His story also could fill in a number of gaps prosecutors and defense attorneys struggled with during the initial trial of Justin, 19, and Joshua, 17.

During an hour-long interview this week, Horsley said he - " not Justin - " was there when Joshua tortured a 3-month-old pit bull mix puppy. The dog, Horsley said, was a puppy he had found two days earlier, named "Lady" and brought to his sister Tiffany Moulder's apartment in Englewood Manor apartments.

"I saw everything," Horsley said. "I saw it all go down . . . I couldn't believe it. I couldn't do anything. I stood right there and watched him do it."

The boys' father, also named Jody Horsley, and sister, Tiffany Moulder, both said they suspected all along Horsley was really involved more than Justin. They have pressured him to come forward after being stunned by last week's 10-year sentence for Justin and Joshua Moulder.

Atlanta Det. James Longshore, who investigated the case, said any new statement should be viewed skeptically. He said he never interviewed Horsley because he made himself scarce and family members swore he wasn't there.

Family members said Tuesday they were trying to hide that Horsley was living with Tiffany at Englewood Manor in violation of her lease. She no longer lives there.

"It's a spattering of truth and a spattering of factual events and some things you can't prove." Longshore said.

District Attorney Paul Howard, whose office prosecuted the case, said in an e-mail statement he doubted the story as well. "In receiving the guilty pleas of the defendants, the Moulders took an oath swearing to the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment," Howard said.

The boys' father complained that police didn't fully investigate, and he said the family still hopes to lighten the prison terms of Joshua and Justin.

Attorneys for both convicted boys are working on motions to reduce the lengthy jail sentences. Last week, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore held a brief hearing to review the sentences without making any substantive changes. She did ask defense lawyers to look at ways both teens could get treatment during their jail terms. She did not return calls seeking comment about Horsley's version of events.

Kevin Schumaker, who represented Joshua, was shocked Horsley had told his story.

"I can't imagine why Jody would do that. Wow. He's really opened himself up to a whole lot of trouble," Schumaker said.

Justin Moulder's lawyer, Timothy Owens, said he had heard Horsley was involved and even planned to call him at the December trial. However, he did not because he couldn't find him for months. And then, when he finally did on the last day of the trial, Owens said he wasn't sure he could get Horsley to tell the truth on the stand.

"Nobody wanted to say anything against the other," Owens said.

Owens said his client confessed to breaking into the center but has always said he had nothing to do with torturing Lady. He entered Alford pleas to most of the counts �" a legal maneuver that agrees the state can prove the case in court without admitting guilt. With the pleas, Owens hoped to avoid a possibly lengthy jail sentence that could have occurred after a second trial. The first trial, in December, ended in a hung jury.

Even if Horsley will repeat his story on the stand, Owens said, Justin Moulder has already been sentenced and that won't be easy to unravel.

Horsley said there were three separate times Joshua went into the Englewood Manor community center in August, all over about an 18-hour period on Aug. 21.

Horsley said he was along the first two times. Horsley said he found a television, took it and sold it on the street for $50. He also said he wrote "I will be back" on the corner of a desk in the office at the center.

The incident with the puppy, Horsley said, didn't happen until the second trip, about noon on Aug. 21. He said he found Joshua with the puppy and they both went back inside the community center with Lady.

His version of events could help explain the final condition of Lady's body.

Police found the badly burned body after 6 p.m. Owens said Justin didn't arrive at Englewood that night until about 5:10 p.m., on a bus from Cobb County. He contended the dog couldn't have burned so much in so little time.

Asked why he didn't try to rescue his own dog, Horsley said he was high on marijuana and wasn't that attached to it. Besides, he felt the dog probably died quickly, "in the first hour and a half."
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Feb 16, 2007
Update posted on Feb 16, 2007 - 11:00PM 
In response to wide-spread rumors of a re-sentencing, the Fulton County District Attorney's office issued the following statement:

"The case of the State v. Joshua and Justin Moulder - as far as this office is concerned - is closed. The defendants have been sentenced and our office has not received any official notice of a change. We ask that you please direct any questions or concerns regarding the status of the case to Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, who presided. We do not expect the judge would entertain any action in this case without officially notifying the Office of the Fulton County District Attorney. " (link to the press release)

When we contacted the DA's office earlier this week, they said there may be another hearing, but nothing had been set yet. If another hearing date is set, whether it's for an appeal or a modification of sentence, the DA's office WILL be notified.

We will continue to monitor this case and keep the public informed of any new developments if and when they arise.
Update posted on Feb 16, 2007 - 1:53PM 
Two brothers accused of torturing and killing a puppy by baking it in an oven were sentenced to 10 years in prison today.

Joshua and Justin Moulder entered a packed courtroom Friday morning. Animal rights activists and supporters for the brothers filled the seats.

Both brothers pleaded guilty to a 10 count felony indictment, which included charges of aggravated animal cruelty.

Prosecutors called witnesses who testified about the brothers' criminal pasts and juvenile records.

Joshua Moulder's criminal records contained charges of burglary, criminal trespass and battery, while Justin Moulder was convicted of shoplifting and child molestation as a juvenile.

Prosecutors also brought in 5,000 letters sent to the District Attorney's office and 17,000 signatures on a petition in support of prison time for the brothers.

Prosecutors said the letters and the signatures on the petition came from all over the country and all over the world.

The judge in the case said she would not use public opinion to make her decision.

"I have not viewed any of the letters and will not view any of the letters or petitions. I've not viewed the petitions either. We will take what has been the evidence in this case, presented in this court. Where there has been the opportunity for the State to present, the defense to cross examine and vice versa," said Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore.
Source: 11 Alive - Feb 9, 2007
Update posted on Feb 9, 2007 - 2:53PM 
Two teenage brothers pleaded guilty Friday to torturing and killing a small puppy by baking it to death inside a gas oven.

Justin and Joshua Moulder essentially threw themselves on the mercy of the court Friday, entering a blind guilty plea to nine felony counts. They face up to 90 years in prison.

Sentencing was sent for Feb. 9.

The plea avoids a second trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection.

Police contend that in August, Joshua and Justin Moulder broke into the community center at the Englewood Manor Apartments on Dalton Street and brought with them a tan-and-white puppy.

The brothers, police say, removed two shelves from a commercial gas range, put the puppy inside, and turned on the gas.

The Moulders, who lived at the apartment complex with their sister, also destroyed computers and defaced walls at the center, authorities said. They then boasted to friends about what they had done, according to prosecutors.

The brothers' first trial, in December, ended in a mistrial after one juror refused to consider whether they were guilty of hog-tying the 13-pound, mixed-breed puppy with duct tape and stuffing it live inside the searing hot oven.

Beth Haynes of Atlanta, one of six women on the December jury, said the case had holes in it but jurors spent time going over the details and resolved that the two brothers were guilty of the horrific charges against them.

One woman, Haynes said, immediately said she wouldn't convict on any charge and refused to budge over two days of deliberations.

The holdout juror, Elizabeth Stronge, later contended that prosecutors simply didn't give her enough evidence to prove their case, which was largely circumstantial.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Jan 26, 2007
Update posted on Jan 26, 2007 - 4:28PM 
Two brothers accused of torturing and killing a small puppy by stuffing it into a gas oven will be retried beginning Jan. 29.

The first trial of Justin and Joshua Moulder ended last month in a hung jury because one juror refused to convict the two young men, 19 and 17 respectively.

They face up to 85 years in prison if convicted on the series of charges stemming from the incident last August at the Englewood Manor apartments in northwest Atlanta.

Police say the two young men broke into the apartment complex community center, trashed the place and stuffed the live, three-month-old puppy into a gas oven.

The grisly nature of the death endured by the puppy brought intense public interest to the case, including animal activists who flocked to the Fulton County courthouse to follow the case.

The first case took about two weeks, including time to seat a jury.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Jan 12, 2007
Update posted on Jan 14, 2007 - 5:25PM 
The re-trial of two Atlanta brothers accused of killing a puppy by baking it inside a gas oven has been delayed.

Fulton County court officials said Tuesday the transcript from the initial trial last month had not yet been prepared. It was not immediately clear Tuesday afternoon when the second trial would begin.

Justin and Joshua Moulder were set for a Jan. 3 retrial after an 11-1 vote by the jury failed to convict the brothers on a series of charges from the incident last August.

The hung jury angered animal lovers and even District Attorney Paul Howard.

The case garnered national attention from animal lovers who were horrified by the gruesome, torturous death suffered by the 13-pound mixed-breed dog.

Prosecutors said the boys, 19 and 17, respectively, hog-tied the puppy with duct tape and stuffed it live into a heated gas oven. The dog thrashed about inside the searing oven until it died.

The Moulders, police said, also trashed the community center at Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta before stuffing the puppy inside the oven.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Jan 2, 2007
Update posted on Jan 3, 2007 - 9:52AM 
A Fulton County jury Friday is hung on most charges in the case of two brothers charged with stuffing a live puppy into a hot gas oven. It found them "not guilty" on another.

A retrial was immediately set for Jan. 3.

Joshua and Justin Moulder faced a total of 11 charges and up to 85 years in prison for the Aug. 21 incident at Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta.

One juror simply refused to consider whether two brothers were guilty of hog tying a small puppy with duct tape and stuffing it live inside a searing hot gas oven.

The lone holdout juror left prosecutors, other jurors and the animal advocates who flocked to the grisly case shocked, bitter and angry.

"When they won't even deliberate, it's insane," said District Attorney Paul Howard. "It's really bad that someone would come to a jury deliberately to sabotage a case."

Prosecutors, Howard said, would push in January for state lawmakers to pass a low allowing for non-unanimous jury decisions. The original rape case against courthouse shooter Brian Nichols deadlocked over one juror.

The jurors came to agreement on one of the child cruelty charges. They had been deliberating since 9 a.m. Thursday. The six-man, six-woman jury took a lunch break at noon Friday and went back to deliberations shortly after 1 p.m.

Police say the two brothers broke into and trashed the complex community center before using duct tape to hog tie a three-month-old mixed breed puppy and shoving it live into a hot gas oven.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dec 15, 2006
Update posted on Dec 15, 2006 - 9:33PM 
Jury deliberations have begun in the Fulton County trial of two brothers accused of baking a puppy in a gas oven.

The six-man, six-woman began reviewing the case about 9 a.m. Thursday. The panel has heard five days of testimony from more than two dozen prosecution witnesses and received more than 160 items of evidence. The defense presented no witnesses, and testimony concluded Wednesday.

The brothers, Joshua and Justin Moulder, 17 and 19, respectively, are accused of felony animal cruelty, among other charges.

In closing arguments Wednesday, a prosecutor compared the Moulder brothers with an infamous serial killer.

"These are your BTK brothers, bind, torture, kill," prosecutor Laura Janssen said. "Torture takes time and planning. It must have been exhausting to go on and torture that puppy."

Janssen's comments invoking the killer who terrorized Wichita, Kan., for more than 20 years.

The brothersare charged with a vicious rampage on Aug. 21. Police say they broke into and trashed the community center at Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta. They then took a 13-pound, mixed-breed puppy, bound its snout and feet with duct tape, poured paint on it and stuffed it live into a searing hot gas oven, prosecutors contend.

The case has drawn wide attention. District Attorney Paul Howard said he's been flooded with more than 1,600 e-mails of support. And a crowd of animal lovers and others filled the courtroom Wednesday.

During testimony, courtroom observers have gasped and some have broken into tears.

The observers looked on in horror Wednesday as an animal expert detailed the final moments of a 3-month-old puppy as it thrashed around in a searing hot gas oven gasping for air.

Dr. Melinda Merck used four dozen grisly, detailed, close-up photos of the oven and the tiny puppy's burned body as she walked jurors slowly through the dog's painful death.

"This darker area is the blood after it's been baked," Merck testified as she pointed to a dark spot on the oven wall.

She said the young dog would have been gasping for air inside the hot oven because the duct tape on its muzzle left only a tiny passage free. One nostril was partially exposed, she said, but likely only by the puppy scraping its nose against the hot oven door.

Merck also talked about the terror the animal would have felt as it was bound, tortured then tossed into the oven.

In presenting the case, prosecutors have laid out the damage done to the center and the torture and painful death endured by the puppy. Also, they've tried to tie the Moulders to the scene.

With only sketchy physical evidence, the strongest physical link came from several neighborhood children who say the Moulders not only committed the crimes but bragged about and showed off their work.

Defense lawyers noted the children's testimony varied widely and was filled with contradictions.

In closing statements Wednesday both lawyers, Timothy Owens and Kevin Schumaker, contended the state had failed to prove its case and that the child witnesses could not be trusted.

"What happened here is disgusting," Owens said. "No sane person would argue that. The question is, did the state prove Justin Moulder did it. ... The kids' stories are wrong on several different levels. Besides, they lie."
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dec 14, 2006
Update posted on Dec 14, 2006 - 12:43PM 
In an unusual move, a live puppy was brought into a Fulton County courtroom to help prosecutors in a trial against two teens they say tortured and killed another puppy.

Rita, a shepherd mix, spent much of her time in court on Tuesday wagging her tail and playing. Prosecutors referred to Rita as Exhibit 109, the final piece of evidence in a brutal animal cruelty case.

"When we tried to apply a muzzle of any kind, they start struggling," said veterinary expert Dr. Melinda Merk.

In an effort to demonstrate a puppy's low tolerance for discomfort, a veterinary expert attempted to tie gauze around Rita's muzzle. Clearly, the puppy did not like it.

Prosecutors contend that Joshua and Justin Moulder did much worse to a puppy roughly the same size and age as Rita. They are accused of trashing the community center at Englewood Manor Apartments, of splattering the center and a 2-month-old pit bull mix with paint. Prosecutors say the teens used duct tape to muzzle the dog, and then baked it in an oven.

An agent with the GBI testified that pieces of duct tape found on the dog, seemed to be the same type found in a backpack belonging to one of the teens.

"Yes it is the same color, it is the same construction," Merk said.

The same agent testified the paint found in the community center did not match paint found on the backpack and a jacket.

Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case on Wednesday, then it will be up to the defense to refute the evidence against the teens.

The teens face up to 90 years in prison each if they are convicted on all counts.
Source: 11 Alive - Dec 12, 2006
Update posted on Dec 14, 2006 - 12:17AM 
Prosecutors won the right Monday to use a live puppy in a demonstration of how another dog suffered before it was stuffed into a searing hot gas oven and killed.

Laura Janssen, the prosecutor, argued that a live demonstration would show how a real dog would react. She said her expert on dog behavior would stop short of any real cruelty.

"It helps the jury to understand," Janssen said.

The puppy pulled from the Fulton animal shelter on Tuesday would be a stand-in for one that was doused with paint, burned, hog-tied with duct tape and then died futility struggling inside a gas oven.

Two brothers, Justin and Joshua Moulder, are on trial in Fulton Superior Court for animal cruetly as well as breaking into and trashing the community center of Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore agreed Monday to allow the dog demonstration over the objections of defense lawyers who argued that trotting out a cute puppy would prejudice the jury.

"This is clearly just an attempt to inflame the jury," said Kevin Schumaker, the lawyer for Joshua Moulder.

Testimony resumed Monday with a series of police witnesses who kicked off the second week of the trial.

The early session witnesses included an Atlanta police supervisor, a crime scene technician and a police sergeant who were all called to the apartments Aug. 21.

They all said they found the apartment community center trashed - computers smashed, books strewn about, paint splattered around and other vandalism - as well as a small puppy that had been duct-taped and gruesomely killed inside the center's gas oven.

Sgt. Bryan Paden didn't need to refer to any notes to tell jurors what he saw.

"I remember distinctly the puppy had paint on it," Paden said. "I also remember distinctly liquid dripping from it."

Two apartment complex employees testified Monday they saw the two brothers walking in Englewood Manor the day of the incident along with a dog.

Also, the resident association president - one of the first people on the scene after the incident - told the jury she was shocked and horrified when she opened the oven door to find the puppy's burned body inside.

"I screamed," said Inez Marshall. "The kids had said it, but I didn't expect to see a real dog in the oven."
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dec 11, 2006
Update posted on Dec 12, 2006 - 11:47AM 
A veteran Atlanta police detective testified Friday he gagged at the horrible stench from a puppy burned to death in a gas range.

"The smell in this case took me two weeks to feel like I had it out of my clothes and off my skin," said Detective James Longshore, a 10-year veteran. "It was that nauseating."

Longshore said the stench was worse than in cases he'd been involved in as a homicide detective, investigating dead bodies left to decay for days.

Longshore said he had to step outside the Englewood Manor community center to get fresh air before he could resume his duties investigating the crime scene.

Longshore took the stand around 1:45 p.m. in the trial of two teens accused of torturing a puppy before stuffing it into a gas oven.

Testimony is now in its second day.

Prosecutors have a lineup of police officials waiting to testify in the case of Justin and Joshua Moulder.

The jury of six men and six women will decide the fate of the two brothers, 19 and 17. They are on trial in Fulton Superior Court before for burglary, criminal damage to property and aggravated cruelty to animals.

Prosecutors say they broke into and vandalized the community center at Englewood Manor apartments and then killed a puppy by binding it with duct tape and stuffing it - still alive - into the center's gas range.

This morning, prosecutor Laura Janssen ran into delays with her first expert witness when defense lawyers argued that they should get to see notes of interviews conduced by Anique Whitmore, a forensic psychologist who interviews children for the district attorney.

The judge ordered the notes turned over and Whitmore's testimony was reset to next week.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dec 8, 2006
Update posted on Dec 9, 2006 - 12:31PM 
Jurors recoiled in horror and wiped their eyes Thursday as prosecutors produced a series of grisly photos of a tiny puppy tortured and then killed in a gas oven.

The blood-stained oven showed scratch marks on the door and walls, indicating that the young dog - its mouth and feet duct-taped - struggled before it died.

Beige paint also covered the puppy and the inside of the oven, a final act of cruelty before the animal was tossed into the stove.

Two teenage brothers, Justin and Joshua Moulder, are on trial in Fulton County Superior Court for the acts that even defense attorneys described as "horrific and gruesome."

"The puppy struggled all the way until it death," said Laura Janssen, senior assistant district attorney, in her opening statement. She held a small, black stuffed dog to demonstrate the animal's treatment to the jury.

She stressed that the two brothers didn't just kill the dog in a sudden, random act of unexplainable violence. Instead, their treatment of the dog was cold, hard, calculated and deliberate.

She said prosecutors will show the brothers first dumped paint on the 3-month-old puppy, and tried to set it on fire. They duct-taped the puppy's paws to restrain it, and then lashed the same tape across its mouth.

When they failed to burn the dog, the two brothers set the bound, paint-covered puppy on a counter, opened the stove, removed two baking racks and then stuffed it inside, Janssen said.

She described their behavior as "inhuman and barbaric."

The torture, police say, occurred on Aug. 21 as the two boys broke into and then trashed the newly refurbished community center at the Englewood Manor apartments.

Lawyer Timothy Owens, representing 19-year-old Justin Moulder, acknowledged the puppy's fate was horrible but maintained his client is innocent.

"He did not do it," Owens said.

Likewise, Kevin Schumaker, representing 17-year-old Joshua Moulder, said there was no proof his client either trashed the center or killed the dog. He said much of the case hinges on five neighborhood children who fingered the brothers and may not be reliable. Other potential witnesses disappeared, he said.

"Do we just have two young men being served up on a silver platter?" Schumaker said.

Janssen said the state will eventually produce clothing and other items that tie the two boys to the scene. She also said they bragged about their acts to the five younger children, showed them their work and later threatened to kill them for calling police.

The trial is expected to take up to two weeks.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dec 7, 2006
Update posted on Dec 9, 2006 - 12:30PM 
Jury selection began Tuesday morning in Fulton County in the case of two teenage brothers who are accused in a horrific case of animal abuse.

Joshua Moulder, 17, and Justin Moulder, 18, are accused of dousing a puppy with paint and then baking it inside an oven at an apartment complex last August. They also lured neighborhood children to see the crime scene, and then threatened them if they told anyone, police said.

Authorities said the pair also vandalized the community center at the Englewood Manor Apartments. Both are charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, cruelty to children, vandalism, burglary, criminal damage to property, and terroristic threats.

The brothers have separate attorneys. Opening statements could start Wednesday.
Source: 11 Alive - Dec 5, 2006
Update posted on Dec 5, 2006 - 10:59PM 
The trial is set to begin today for two brothers accused of torturing a puppy in Fulton County. We will keep you posted as the case progresses.
Update posted on Dec 5, 2006 - 11:09AM 
The brothers are due back in court for a motions hearing on November 17. Their trial is set to begin next month.
Source: WXIA - Nov 8, 2006
Update posted on Nov 9, 2006 - 7:37AM 
The Moulder brothers were in court this morning for a motions hearing, during which time the cruelty to children charges were dropped on a technicality. The brothers are now headed back to court for re-indictment. A court date has been scheduled for Dec 5.
Source: MyFox - Nov 8, 2006
Update posted on Nov 8, 2006 - 12:53PM 
The Moulder brothers will be in court today on charges that they tortured a puppy. The brothers have entered not guilty pleas. If convicted, they face a maximum of 5 years. Their court date begins at 9:30. We will keep you updated on developments.
Source: MyFox - Nov 8, 2006
Update posted on Nov 8, 2006 - 7:07AM 
Teenage brothers in Atlanta are accused of torturing a puppy to death, then showing the dead dog to neighborhood children who were threatened if they told anyone.

Joshua Moulder, 17, and Justin Moulder, 18, are due to appear in court Monday (Oct 16).

The brothers are accused of binding the dog with duct tape, dousing her with paint and putting her in an oven at the community center in the apartment complex where they live.

They also are accused of luring neighborhood children to the apartment complex to see the dead puppy, then threatening to kill them if they told anyone.

The brothers face an 11-count indictment on charges including aggravated cruelty to animals, burglary, criminal damage to property in the second degree, making terroristic threats and misdemeanor counts of cruelty to children in the third degree.

The Moulders will have a chance to enter a plea to the charges during their arraignment.

Meanwhile, Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Paul Howard is lobbying state lawmakers to increase sentences for animal cruelty. The maximum now is five years in prison.

Howard was recently honored by the Humane Society of the United States.

In Howard's words, "Something is wrong with a person who would torture a helpless animal."
Source: KPHO - Oct 9, 2006
Update posted on Oct 15, 2006 - 2:26PM 

References

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