The sad part of this is that many judges let dog abusers off with lighter sentences or fines.
Thanks to Yahoo News for this article.
Vote protest puts woman in doghouse
SEATTLE – Duncan M. MacDonald can’t vote, which could be a relief to politicians who otherwise might have to outline their positions on chew toys, postal carriers and squirrels.
Jane Balogh, the owner of the Australian shepherd-terrier, is in trouble for submitting voided ballots in his name in three elections. One tipoff for authorities: One of the envelopes was signed with a picture of a paw print.
Balogh said she was protesting a 2005 state law that she says makes it too easy for non-citizens to vote. She put her phone bill in Duncan’s name, then used the phone bill as identification to register him as a voter.
“I wasn’t trying to do anything fraudulent. I was trying to prove that our system is flawed. So I got myself in trouble,” she says.
Prosecutors have offered the grandmother and Army veteran a deal: plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a false statement to a public official and they will not file a felony charge of providing false information on a voter-registration application.
Balogh said she doesn’t plan to contest the charge because “I know I’m guilty.” She said she submitted ballots in the dog’s name in the September and November 2006 and May 2007 elections. She wrote “VOID” on the ballots and didn’t cast any votes.
Prosecutors said they would recommend she be sentenced to 10 hours of community service, pay a $250 fine and commit no other crimes for a year.
