Justice for Ella

[RealAmerican]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

In March of 2008, a neighbor, worried that he hadn’t see Abrams or Ella for some time, looked in the house and saw Ella, dead in her crate. The neighbor, Robert Arishon, even more concerned for Abrams safety, called the police. When police arrived and investigated the house, seeing Ella dead locked in her crate, the flies and the smell, even outside, overwhelming, they too feared for Abrams. Worried that Ella was not the only body in the house, the police entered. No Christine, just the body of Ella, a once beautiful German Shepherd, dead and decomposed, just a few feet away from a bag of dog food.

Eventually they did find Christine Abrams, 5 hours later, at a house just six miles away. She told police she locked Ella in a crate at the old home because her new roommate did not like dogs and that she knew what would happen if Ella was left without food or water for an extended period of time. she showed no remorse for the dog’s cruel fate.

Dog lovers and animal protest outside the courthouseOriginally charged with one count of felony cruelty, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, prosecutors in the case reduced the charge to a first-degree misdemeanor — which carries a penalty of only one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Animal advocates across the nation are angry and outraged. They have protested and written letters. And now this case take another nasty turn. The defense is trying to get all the evidence thrown out and the case dismissed!!

At court on Friday, Abrams sat stoically and her defense attorney, Andrew Stine, hammered away at the concerned neighbor, Robert Arishon, and the police. He claims that the evidence was obtained illegally without a search warrant and therefore is inadmissible.

Police should have gotten a search warrant before entering Christine Abrams’ home, even though there was a “smell of death,” large flies inside the house and reports from a neighbor that the 30-year-old woman hadn’t been seen for two months, her attorney said Friday.

During a five-hour hearing, attorney Andrew Stine told a Brevard judge that police conducted Christine Abrams sits in court, showing no remorse illegal search March 12 when they crawled through a window of Abrams’ Cocoa home and found her dog Ella, a 2-year-old white German shepherd, dead in a locked crate with no food or water.

Officers should not have entered the locked home unless they thought someone inside was in immediate danger or that evidence was about to be destroyed, Stine said.

But finding the dog only heightened their concerns about Abrams’ well-being, Cocoa police Officer Jeff Aiken said.

The defense is arguing that Cristine's 4th amendment rights had been violated and the police even entering her driveway violated her fourth amendment rights. Is this heartless b**ch going to get away with this or is the defense reaching here. Thanks for taking the time to look this over.

[CdwJava]

It sounds like the defense is reaching.

- Carl

[Ozark_Sophist]

In a small town south of me, deputy town marshall acting as a dog catcher caught two strays. The dogs were placed in a pen at the local water treatment plant instead of taken to the area humane society. Deputy was off for a few days and either assumed marshall knew or communicated to town marshall that the dogs needed to be taken to a shelter or provided food or water. The dogs spent 1 to 2 weeks without food or water before being discovered dead.

Charges were brought against the town marshall, but he was found not guilty. Local prosecuter declined to bring charges against deputies involved.