If a criminal defense lawyer is supposed to take heat of a client, Cody Mann (left), 28, has found the right attorney in Jenny Chaplinski. Chaplinski is under fire for comments that she made regarding her client’s torture, killing, and cooking of his pet cat. Chaplinski dismissed the outrage over the crime as involving just “meat.” Cat meat to be sure but “it’s meat.”
Mann is charged with animal cruelty and torture after police found him with his skinned and baked cat that he was about to eat with onions. Police went to the apartment after a call from Mann’s father that he made been making strange comments. Mann is a known drug user and suffers from mental illness.
Chaplinski objected publicly to how Mann “is just being crucified” and noted that “I’ve represented people doing more horrible things to other people.” Then she added, “[a]t the end of the day, it’s meat. . . I don’t know why there’s the outrage about cooking a cat.”
Presumably another past client of Chaplinski would wholeheartedly agree:
In defense of Chaplinski, she was trying to direct attention to the obvious fact that this guy is mentally disturbed. She might have been a bit better off with avoiding the culinary point and sticking with the sanity issue.
Feyd, agree with you regarding the mental issues. But people who cruel to animals can be cruel to other people.
Lady Gaga wears meat. It that somehow less cruel?
I say that she is lame. Lame for not interjecting The Moroccan Defense. Moroccans eat dogs and cats, don’t they? If she simply said that he had a slight delusion that he was home in Morocco and all was fine then things would be ok. Sometimes lawyers get wacko when representing wackos and this might be the case.
You sure she polish and not Korean…..
“So if we are to respect other cultures, we should not criminalize the consumption of [cats].” A bit of a non-sequitur, but in general this is more of a mental issue than criminal matter.
Unfortunately animals of all kinds, including pets, are killed by the thousands daily. Perhaps Mann gets credit for not wasting the food.
While I love horses and dogs, and like cats, as has been observed by others, these animals are all considered legitimate food items in many cultures. So if we are to respect other cultures, we should not criminalize the consumption of them. I would not willingly or knowingly eat such things, but I would not prosecute a person for doing it. Then the legal question will arise, do you have to be Asian to eat dog meat? Or French or European to be permitted to eat horse meat? We have enough serious crimes to worry about other than this one.
Not to be overlooked is this was his PET cat. Something he would presume to be fond of. Should society be concerned about a member that would do that?
The rock band CatMeat says:
(Wikimeatia). Torture is not required.
Funny thing. One of the largest groceries on the east coast has a sign on one of its aisles which reads “CANNED CAT”. Is there a trend?
Rumor has it that the guy said the taste was something in between that of a Spotted Owl and a Bald Eagle.
Our resident Dog Pack here are reading to pounce on this barrister. That said, if you take out the alleged torture, what is so different than butchering a rabbit, squirrel, etc. and eating it. Or, a dog for that matter. Culture isn’t an issue w/ this gent, but other cultures eat other “meat” including but not limited to cats and dogs.