kariann
Hatchling Member
I think some of you may have been following this story on a previous thread earlier this year. I came upon this and thought some may like to know the conclusion. Like most animal cruelty cases, the punishment is puny compared to the crime. This is true even in Georgia where we have felony animal cruelty. We can only hope one day this will change.
Lizard Attacker Sentenced To Clean Up Roadkill
Authorities: Woman Stabbed, Tossed Husband's Pet Iguanas
POSTED: 3:40 pm CDT August 21, 2008
ST. CHARLES, Ill. -- A northwest suburban woman who attacked her husband’s pet lizards with a kitchen knife will pay for her crime by cleaning dead animals off Kane County roads, a judge ruled Thursday.
Sara Tinsley, 38, of West Dundee had pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges for the attack in which she threw one of the lizards against a wall and stabbed the other with a butcher knife. Authorities said the violent outburst was an act of vengeance against her husband, who was also arrested on charges of battering her.
On Thursday, Kane County Judge Grant Wegner sentenced Tinsley to 50 hours of community service removing dead animals from the roadside. She was also sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to pay restitution and undergo counseling, Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Chris Nelson said.
Officers went to the couple’s home on April 2, 2007, after Tinsley reported a domestic altercation had occurred a day earlier. Officers saw blood on the floor and discovered the lizards -- iguanas named Fred and Ethel -- in a trash can, according to a police report.
Police said Tinsley had threatened to kill her husband's prized pets during a fight over the phone on April 2. After that shouting match, she turned on the lizards, police said.
The impact with the wall killed Ethel, but Fred survived the stabbing after a family friend brought him to a veterinarian, according to West Dundee Police Chief Dave Sawyer.
"She knew he loved the lizards," Sawyer said after the incident.
Harry Tinsley -- who turned himself in for questioning the same day police found his pets -- was charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery for pushing and choking his wife during the altercation the day before, authorities said.
Sara Tinsley had been free on $500 bond.
Copyright 2008, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
Lizard Attacker Sentenced To Clean Up Roadkill
Authorities: Woman Stabbed, Tossed Husband's Pet Iguanas
POSTED: 3:40 pm CDT August 21, 2008
ST. CHARLES, Ill. -- A northwest suburban woman who attacked her husband’s pet lizards with a kitchen knife will pay for her crime by cleaning dead animals off Kane County roads, a judge ruled Thursday.
Sara Tinsley, 38, of West Dundee had pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges for the attack in which she threw one of the lizards against a wall and stabbed the other with a butcher knife. Authorities said the violent outburst was an act of vengeance against her husband, who was also arrested on charges of battering her.
On Thursday, Kane County Judge Grant Wegner sentenced Tinsley to 50 hours of community service removing dead animals from the roadside. She was also sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to pay restitution and undergo counseling, Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Chris Nelson said.
Officers went to the couple’s home on April 2, 2007, after Tinsley reported a domestic altercation had occurred a day earlier. Officers saw blood on the floor and discovered the lizards -- iguanas named Fred and Ethel -- in a trash can, according to a police report.
Police said Tinsley had threatened to kill her husband's prized pets during a fight over the phone on April 2. After that shouting match, she turned on the lizards, police said.
The impact with the wall killed Ethel, but Fred survived the stabbing after a family friend brought him to a veterinarian, according to West Dundee Police Chief Dave Sawyer.
"She knew he loved the lizards," Sawyer said after the incident.
Harry Tinsley -- who turned himself in for questioning the same day police found his pets -- was charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery for pushing and choking his wife during the altercation the day before, authorities said.
Sara Tinsley had been free on $500 bond.
Copyright 2008, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
