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Man who tortured and killed woman's two cats convicted of felony animal cruelty under new law
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Stock.xchng: Peter Szustka
Russell Swigart of Northern KY was arrested in late September last year for breaking into a coworker's home and stabbing two of her three cats to death. She was out of town and had not heard from him in months. When found, he still had in his possession a knife covered in fur and feline blood.
The original charges were a single count of felony burglary and two misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. But due to a law that had passed in July, known as Romeo's Law, the cruelty charges were changed to Class D felony charges. Romeo was a dog whose abuse was captured on video, leading to the push for more serious consequences for anyone in the state who tortures a cat or dog.
Not only did Swigart kill the cats, named Piggy and Mr. Frank, but according to the human victim he texted her to let her know what he was doing as he did it. After his arrest, reports of previous incidents of animal abuse and torture came to light. Those episodes involved both dog and cat victims, and were also part of his apparent pattern of terrorizing female acquaintances.
His bail was initially set at only $5,000, but later raised to $100,000. The victim was afraid for her life if he was released on bond, and according to court records was unable to return to her home and spend time there.
Swigart originally pled not guilty and a jury was seated, but after opening statements he changed his plea to guilty. Prosecutors reduced the burglary charge to second-degree from first-degree in exchange for his plea, so he now faces 5-10 years for the burglary charge and up to one year for each of the animals he killed. The first-degree burglary charge would have carried a sentence of up to 20 years.
This is the first conviction under Romeo's law. Swigart is scheduled for sentencing in November.
My comments: How sad that the burglary is punishable with 10 years of incarceration, but the extreme suffering he put the cats and their person through due to his torturing and killing the cats only merits two years total. At the same time, it is good to see that legislators are taking animal abuse more seriously, as the horrific crime it is and as the link it represents to abusing people. Hopefully the sentencing judge will feel the same way and give the maximum sentence.
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