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Mason was charged with PC 597 b according to the dept. press release. He was basically charged with not providing food, drink or shelter for his animals. He has to provide "ordinary care." He was providing this and a lot more. They had food, water, shelter, vet care. Not all were neutered but that's not mandatory.
597 b is a wobbler, you can charge as misdemeanor or felony. The dept wants to go for felony because it makes their ACTF stats look good.
Obviously, if Mason has a ton of vet bills, had most "fixed," and they looked well fed, as did Muffin and "Sonny" held by Det. Orgetga, then he is not guilty of a PC 507b violation, and definitely not as a felony.
Penal Code 597. (b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a) or (c), every person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks,
tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, or causes or procures any animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed; and whoever, having the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects any animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses the animal when unfit for labor, is, for every such offense, guilty of a crime
punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=594-625c
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3 comments:
It'd be hard to explain how the house got to be so "fragrant" -- and how that would have been ACTF's business, if it wasn't in fact the place where they assumed the cats were being sheltered.
The Daily News article doesn't imply the cats were emaciated, and interestingly, even Troy Boswell characterizes it as a case of "good intentions gone awry." Add in the vet records and the "fortune" spent on vet bills, and how do they even pretend to get felony neglect from that mix?
They want to charge him with a felony to make the ACTF numbers look good, plain and simple. Target a poor hoarder who can't afford an attorney, easy target. They'll threaten to charge him for animal care, threaten him with jail time and he'll roll over and plead guilty. Slam dunk case. Go after the easy poor hoarders, a lot easier than going after the real abusers, dog fighters.
I don't know anything about what Mason did, so I can't judge him.
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