[News] Man Bashes Yorkie to Death

[fasteddie]

He should get a LOT MORE than 2 years in prison!!!!!!
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A White Plains man smashed his girlfriend's Yorkshire terrier against a toilet bowl during an argument at her Greenburgh home, the woman's sister testified yesterday.

Sibohan Young was the first witness at the trial of Russell Miller, who was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after the Jan. 10 incident at the Fair Street home where Young and her sisters and children live.

Young testified that she came home early that morning to find Miller and her sister tussling in the bathroom over something that she later realized was Sugar Bear, the terrier, and that Miller grabbed the animal by its sweater.

"He suspended it in the air and just thrashed it against the toilet bowl at least three times," Young said of Miller, adding later that he had used "heavy force" and lifted the dog over his head before each blow.

Miller ran from the home after dropping the dog into the toilet, Young said. She said she pulled the dog out and tried to comfort it.

"It just looked like he was mangled," Young told Assistant District Attorney Mary Ann Liebowitz. "He was lifeless, just whimpering, crying."

Once police were called, the 8-pound dog was taken to a nearby animal hospital, where a broken back was diagnosed, and the dog was euthanized.

Miller was arrested two weeks later.

The defense concedes that Miller and his girlfriend argued that night but maintains that Sugar Bear was injured when he was stepped on accidentally during the argument.

Young conceded on cross-examination by defense lawyer Richard Gould that her relationship with her sister had deteriorated since Miller's arrest. She denied Gould's suggestion that that was because her sister thought she was lying about how the dog had been injured.

Gould showed her a document indicating the dog was owned by both Miller and her sister. Young testified that Miller bought it and gave it to her sister as a Valentine's Day present.

Liebowitz said in her opening statement that the case was about Miller's "anger, selfishness and violence." She told the jury that, during the argument that preceded the dog's death, Miller had demanded that his girlfriend return items he had given her.

Miller, 25, faces up to two years in state prison if convicted. The trial will resume tomorrow before Westchester County Judge Robert DiBella.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsro...dogkilled.html

[Casey's Mom]

Horrible!! Someone needs to smash his head a few times!. Wonder what he would do to a crying baby that got on his nerves? Just horrible!

[Luvmypupster]

That just makes me so PO!!!!!! I can't imagine anyone doing something like this. In addition to his sentence he needs community service the rest of his life something like shoveling S_ _ _!

[bettyeanne]

Sorry, girls! The punishment I have in mind for him ... can't describe it here ... but it involves a sharp knife and him having to drop his pants!!! How can people be so cruel? These babies are as innocent and helpless to defend themselves as babies! Where is justice in this country?!!!

[Luvmypupster]

After Casey's mom and Bettye are done with him and with me being from Texas , I say.... get a rope!

[bettyeanne]

I'll bet if a bunch of Yorkie Mom's converged on the lawmakers it might encourage them to impose harsher punishment for low life people like that!! Get the rope .... I'll round up the posse!!

[max's mom]

This article upset me so much that I was shaking. I can't believe the inhumane, cruel torture of such a tiny, helpless and loving little thing. This man deserves the maximum punishment. If he would do this to a defenseless yorkie then he would certainly do this to a child as well.

I am heart sick!

Max's mom

[Luvmypupster]

and I got me a big old tree in my backyard! Just right for a hangin.

[bettyeanne]

Hold up ... for Mary Ellen to get back from her camping trip! She will want to bring her "Monster Lobstah'"!!

[Kidding aside ... how large a group does it take or what has to be done to bring attention to these horrible people? There are a bzillion Yorkie owners alone ... imagine how many serious pet owners there are in this country!! Food for thought .... suggestions??]

[jer_lin]

this guy needs to be beat with a good stick while his head is stuck inside the comode;
jer_lin

[fasteddie]

How could we publicize such abuse to the masses and try to get lawmakers to care about it? Just seems two years for MURDERING someone's doggy just isn't much at all. A lot of folks would feel just as bad as if the murdered killed their baby!

[sadiemylady]

I think max'smom hit it on the nose. Criminologist agree that if we can predict crime we can prevent it.
We know that most violent criminals start out with animal abuse.
This person can be stopped if the right judge is over the case.
In short,
People who abuse animals will eventually abuse humans.
This criminal deserves the harshest punishment allowed by the law.

We should form a group like madd did. We see know how they influence court rooms and now today we have harsher punishment for drunk drivers.

In Texas we elect our judges and if the judge wants a particular groups vote he will certainly see their side in court.

[sadiemylady]

Horrible sad story!

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by fasteddie

The trial will resume tomorrow before Westchester County Judge Robert DiBella.

I hope Judge DiBella owns a Yorkie.

[fasteddie]

GRRR! He got off! What the heck! That's horrible!!!
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WHITE PLAINS — A man accused of smashing his girlfriend's Yorkshire terrier against a toilet was acquitted of aggravated cruelty to animals yesterday.

The jury's verdict in Russell Miller's case came on the third day of deliberations. Miller is still facing unrelated felony drug charges and was returned to the Westchester County jail after the verdict was announced.

Miller and his girlfriend, Erin Young, got into a heated argument early on Jan. 10 at her home on Fair Street.

He demanded she return items he had given her and they began tussling over the dog in the bathroom. Young's sister, Sibohan, testified last week that Miller grabbed the dog, held it over his head and then slammed it down on the toilet three times before dropping it in and fleeing the house.

A second sister testified she saw Miller strike the dog against the toilet once.

Erin Young called police as her sister pulled Sugar Bear from the toilet. The dog was rushed to a local animal hospital, where he was euthanized after a veterinarian diagnosed the animal's condition as a broken spine.

Although she was the complainant in the case, Erin Young did not testify at the trial. Had she been called, she likely would have disputed her sisters' version of how the dog was injured.

Her unavailability was significant as it led Westchester County Judge Robert DiBella to rule that the jury would not hear a tape of the 911 call she made to police that morning because the defense would not be able to cross-examine her about it. The prosecution wanted the tape played to show that Young had immediately accused Miller of hurting her dog.

Miller's lawyer, Richard Gould, argued in closing statements Monday that there was significant reasonable doubt whether Miller had intentionally harmed the dog and whether the dog was even seriously injured.

He attacked Sibohan's credibility, saying she previously told detectives and the grand jury that the dog had been struck more than three times. And he called a second veterinarian who testified that further tests would have been necessary to diagnose a severed spine.

Gould said there were no forensic tests on the toilet to prove that the dog had ever been slammed against it.

Miller, 25, did not testify but Gould suggested he told detectives the truth when he was arrested two weeks after the incident — that he might have accidentally stepped on Sugar Bear while arguing with Young.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Ann Liebowitz urged the jury not to believe that the severed spine occurred by accident. She said the differences in the two sisters' accounts were not significant and that one vicious blow could have caused the dog's injury.

Miller would have faced up to two years in state prison had the jury convicted him. He still faces up to 25 years in prison on the pending charges of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsro...19dogcase.html