Are Tennessee animal cruelty penalties too lax?

Here's a recent posting from WATE-TV in Knoxville. It addresses the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing for animal cruelty convictions.

Are Tennessee animal cruelty penalties too lax?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:48 PM EST

By HANA KIM

6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A Knox County assistant district attorney who has prosecuted her share of animal cruelty cases hopes the state Legislature will take a closer look at current laws.

There are about 20 active animal cruelty cases in the county and if history is any indication, most of the defendants will not spend any time in jail even if they're convicted.

ADA Joanie Stewart hopes lawmakers will perhaps implement a mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of animal cruelty.

Jeffrey Coppock, 44, of Knoxville, was due for a preliminary hearing Tuesday on charges that he beat a Shih Tzu named Rosie to death. However, his hearing was reset to July 20.

Coppock was arrested in April after deputies got a call from his neighbor on Evening Star Lane.

When deputies got there, they found Rosie in the backyard with blood around her nose, broken bones and only taking shallow breaths. The dog later died.

In another case Knox County case, a three-year-old dog nicknamed the "Little Brown Dog" made national headlines in November 2009 after she was dragged nearly a mile behind a pickup truck.

She survived and her former owner, Jimmy Lovell, is awaiting trial. Because of the extent of Little Brown Dog's injuries, Lovell was charged with a felony.

"On the felony cases, the animal has been treated in a sadistic and depraved manner," Stewart explained.

"A lot of our offenders are first time offenders so they are eligible for programs that would be diversion, that would be probation if they don't have a lengthy criminal record," Stewart added.

If there is no bodily injury or death to the animal, most cases are deemed misdemeanors.

"You have so many crimes that have the minimum jail sentences. DUI is one, 48 hours and that's a misdemeanor," Stewart said.

Stewart believes a mandatory minimum sentence will send a stronger message and hopefully help protect animals.

If a person is convicted of his first animal cruelty charge and picks up a second charge, that second offense is automatically a felony.

Aside from the fact that the ADA in the article doesn't actually make a case for mandatory minimum sentencing, and only recites a short list of cases which are waiting to be tried, the article is fairly illogical in other ways.

Here are some problems with the article. While I don't have much respect for HSUS or the Animal Legal Defense Fund, those fun-loving people who are always demanding that animal cruelty laws be made tougher, both entities came out this year with reports that placed Tennessee in the mid to upper reaches of states having strong laws against animal cruelty. ALDF placed Tennessee in the top tier of states with animal cruelty laws. So there. Hey, you people who are always claiming that Tennessee is full of people who are cruel to animals! What do you think about that? (Nope, I won't give links to those groups. Not on this site.)

Another problem with this article, or with the thought process of the ADA mentioned in it, is that mandatory minimum sentences don't do what they are intended to do. Many animal cruelty cases which are charged as misdemeanors are carried out by children and teens. Do you want to have a mandatory minimum sentence for crimes committed by minors? Well, a lot of prosecutors don't. When it comes to charging minors with those crimes, they would rather not do it. So, faced with either prosecuting a kid with a very stiff mandatory sentence or not charging him at all, they let him go and they don't prosecute. The result is that when you have mandatory minimum sentences you often have fewer misdemeanor crimes prosecuted — exactly the opposite effect that people pushing for tougher laws want.

There is a bill in the Tennessee legislature right now concerning mandatory minimum sentencing for animal cruelty cases but if the legislators have any sense at all they will let it die and leave prosecution and sentencing to the courts.