A border collie names Quinn was the pride and joy of the Turlock Golf and Country Club in Turlock, California. He was the perfect vehicle, therefore, in the twisted mind of Franco Garcia Aguilar, 21, to express his anger at being laid off as part of the maintenance crew. Aguilar allegedly shot Quinn three times with a 12-gauge shotgun in his kennel on December 16th.
Aguilar is allegedly as violent to the human species — he is being held on a domestic violence charge. He is now charged with animal cruelty and burglary.
These cases are difficult to address in criminal and tort. Under common law tort, the pet’s life is worth only what the animal would bring on the market and not what his value is to the owner. Any serious damages must be secured through emotional distress claims — how the tort affected the owner.
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I wrote my sentence without a word. It should read
I cannot imagine what would make a person want DO that to an animal.
My keyboard is very touchy.
I should also add that it is unfortunate that California is not as strict as Louisiana. He’d be looking at 10 years, which would be well deserved.
Mespo…that’s a very sad story to read!! I cannot imagine what would make a person want to that to an animal.
I hope he gets as much time in prison as possible and it would be nice to see the extra charges added as well!!
Sally:
I suspect our trigger happy greensman is looking at two to three years or more on the animal cruelty charges. Probably more if the domestic and burglary charges are factored in, or if he gets a pet lover on the jury or on the bench. California has made such abuse a felony since 1988. Here’s a similar Cretan’s sentence in California and hence my prediction:
http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0201/articles/020131b.htm
Maybe someone ought to shove him into a cage and shoot him unexpectedly.
What a jerk. This is a case where I’d actually like to see PETA get involved.
What kind of charges can be brought against someone who does this to animals? Is he looking at doing any time at all?
As we have discussed here many times, I find no reason to exclude the destruction of animals from that category of torts which carries the possibility of damages for emotional distress. As we have seen in many cases the emotional loss is real as can be attested to by anyone who owns pets themselves. I suppose the law adopts the restrictive position it does in an attempt to assert the superior dignity of humans over other animal species– the law is, after all, man-made, with apologies to Natural Law advocates . However after reading this story one has to pause and question the presumption that all humans are of superior dignity to our four-legged friends like Quinn.
I was shocked to read about this case. Here is an individual who needs to be rotting in a cell for a long, long time. What a big man. Shooting a defenseless animal while it is in a cage! Isn’t that how mass murderers start, by killing animals? I hope the punishment is sufficient to induce this scumbag to refrain from these kind of actions in the future.