Dog Abuser Apologizes
Thanks to Dakota for barking in about this atrocity. Now they say the man who tortured Henry is ready to “apologize.” Some apologies mean nothing and this is one of those! He didn’t kick Henry in a moment of anger; he horribly tortured him over a period of time.
The evil man should be glad he had a wife who just divorced him. I’m afraid to say what I would have done if it had been my husband. Anybody remember Lorena Bobbitt?
This article comes from the Deseret News.
Torturer of dog pleads guilty
Murray man apologizes for putting pup in oven
By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning NewsA man who put his wife’s dog in a 200-degree oven for about five minutes pleaded guilty in court Monday to one of two counts of aggravated animal cruelty.
A Humane Society of Utah official called people like Marc Vincent, who torture animals, “scumbags” and called for the public to push the courts for the maximum sentence possible when Vincent is sentenced Nov. 6.
The maximum possible penalty for a class A misdemeanor is one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. A second charge of animal cruelty was dropped in exchange for the one guilty plea.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, defense attorney Tera Haynes said her client asked her to issue a public apology on his behalf to his estranged wife, the dog named Henry and the public.
“He’s ready to take his consequences,” Haynes said, noting her client admits what he did “was a mistake.”
Vincent “has a problem emotionally with anger” and is enrolled in a class to learn to control his anger, she said.
Vincent wore dark sunglasses and trembled as he stood next to his attorney as she answered questions from the media. Vincent did not speak to reporters.
The Humane Society of Utah is encouraging all residents to send a letter or e-mail to either 3rd District Judge William Barrett or the Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office asking that Vincent receive the maximum penalty.
“Some may shrug their shoulders and say it’s just a dog. But tomorrow it could be a woman or a child,” said Humane Society Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt, who noted that many notorious serial killers started off by torturing animals.
“Put pressure on the district attorney and the judge to give the harshest penalty under the current law,” he said.
Baierschmidt said he was pleased and surprised with Vincent’s guilty plea Monday.
On May 25, Vincent, who had been arguing with his wife, chased her dog, a Chihuahua-mix less than a year old, with a leaf blower, Baierschmidt said. After catching the dog, he put it in an oven set at 200 degrees.He took the dog out once but then put it back in, according to court records. The dog was in the oven a total of about five minutes.
As a result of the leafblower attack and the heat exposure in the oven, Henry lost an eye, his claws were fused together from the heat and he will never again be able to walk normally, Baierschmidt said. “It’s one of the worst (cases of abuse) I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Since his arrest, Vincent’s wife has filed for divorce.
In addition to pushing for the maximum penalty in this case, Baierschmidt said he will also push for a bill during the next legislative session that would make animal cruelty a felony.
As of Monday, Baierschmidt said he did not know of any animal cruelty case in Utah that resulted in a person in Utah actually spending any time in jail.
“We’re trying to tell people it’s a bigger issue. There’s a large body of evidence that shows cruelty to animals and violence to people are linked,” he said.
