Trial by Internet

The public outcry against animal cruelty cases has reached a fevered pitch and the court system is listening.

Andrew Burnett, the California man who was dubbed “the most hated man in America” for killing a small dog by throwing it into oncoming San Jose traffic in a fit of road-rage, was sentenced to three years in prison. A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources employee has been charged with cruelty to animals for allegedly beating a stray cat to death with an aluminum bat. Juveniles in Michigan that tie a puppy to railroad tracks to be sliced in half by a train are charged with the crime.

Stories like this appear in the news almost daily. To lose an animal companion is tough under any circumstances, to have your pet murdered is beyond horrific, but to be accused of animal cruelty and convicted via the Internet before your trial is like living an Alfred Hitchcock film.

<DL> <DD>This man deserves the same treatment he obviously “condoned” toward Max.

<DD>I say take him out back, let attack dogs loose on him … them beat him in the head with a golf club and a rock to “put him out of his misery.”</DL>

On September 29, 2000, Denise Baltron found her cat Max dying by a fence nearby her south Sacramento home. A neighbor told her that her relative had seen an older black man with two German shepherd dogs beat something where Max was found. Baltron rushed Max to an animal hospital where the cat died seven hours later.

The next day James Lacy, a youth counselor with the California Youth Authority and a retired Military Police officer, was jogging in the field with one of his dogs behind Baltron’s home. The woman, her niece and several neighbors stopped Lacy and accused him of beating Max to death.

Lacy, a 64-year-old African-American, was carrying a golf putter and wearing stereo headphones. Startled by the accusations and being surrounded by angry people, Lacy got defensive and from there the story splits into conflicting accounts of shouting, swearing, threats and the brandishing of weapons on both sides: Baltron with pruning shears and Lacy allegedly swinging the putter over his shoulder, although at no time were either Lacy or Baltron closer than 30 feet from each other. Lacy is alleged to have told Baltron, “I hit the cat, I’d do it again” and “Lady, you don’t know who you’re fucking with.”

The police were called and showed up an hour and a half later. They took reports, but did not issue a citation. Through the perseverance of Baltron, and with the help of the Web site “Petition Petition!” (www.petitionpetition.com) and People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which contacted its California activists, Lacy was eventually charged with brandishing a weapon and animal cruelty, a felony.

<DL><DD>WHAT IS THAT STUPID BLACK BASTARD
STILL DOING ON THE STREETS?
WHY ISn’t HE BEHIND BARS?</DL>

“We have received calls from all over the globe about this case,” said Martin Mersereau of PETA. “The matter is best handled by the justice system. If it is determined that Lacy is not responsible, PETA will offer an award leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible.”

The Internet played a big part in getting this case prosecuted. Anonymous people created Web sites in memory of Max and urging the conviction of James Lacy. One, Justice for Max (www.geocities.com/angrylioness/Max.html) tells Baltron’s version of the incident and links to other Max and animal rights-related sites.

The main Max Web site is “In Search of Justice—In Memory of Max” (http://www.geocities.com/justice4max/), which boldly accuses James Lacy of releasing his dogs on Max and beating him with a golf club and a rock. The site includes the story about how Baltron acquired Max, contact information, sample letter for petitions, press releases, media contacts and a donation request to help cover the costs for the civil case that Baltron has filed.

Since September 11, a Max’s USA Page has been added which includes a guest book, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Gettysburg Address, the lyrics to “America the Beautiful,” a prayer and articles about America standing tall and World Trade Center kittens found alive. There is even a first person, fictional account of Max’s death, as told by Max himself.

<DL> <DD>Are you gonna be a pussy? Let the officials and the beast know you will not tolerate such cruelty and such a psycho to be influencing unstable youth no less!!!! I’d like to see my wolves deal with this erect piece of rotten meat!</DL>

“Petition Petition!” is a Web site set up so that anyone can start a petition and send it to the proper authorities. Excluding the 122 “not publicly displayed” petitions, only six were from the Sacramento area and 405 were from everywhere else: England, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland, Brazil, Australia, Guatemala, Canada, China and across the U.S. These petitions were sent to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office, various police departments, the mayor’s office and just about every other public official.

“A lot of the petitions were from out of town,” said Hillery Bagley, who is prosecuting the case.

Max’s guest book on Petition, Petition! is most appalling, with postings from animal rights activists, children and white supremacy groups. Here’s a few more to add to the three bolded quotes you’ve read above:

<DL> <DD>The jews in this world have never suffered as much as this poor cat has, and if they have their way, they will see animals like this man who did his running rampant in every last white hometown on earth, doing the same to your dogs, your daughters and sons.—Minnie

<DD>I’d like to say that it’s people like James Lacy and the retarded people like the justice system who condoles [sic] what he did that make this world a bad place. I hope he goes to prison and somebody beats HIM with a rock! —Traci Scott, Rockford, IL

<DD>The guy who did this to Max obviously lives some sort of deviant lifestyle. I can rest in the fact that his life ahead will be a hard one. I have no doubt that someone like this will wind up in jail and raped. I just hope that the rapist whispers the name Max in his ear.—Sven Mama

</DL>

As of January 30, there were more than 580 postings on the guest page, all of them demanding everything from firing Lacy from his job to killing him with rocks and golf clubs to a prison term that involves sodomy. Kathryn B. Caldwell of Masdon, New York, posted the first message on December 29, 2000, stating that she is vegan and an animal rights activist who belongs to several animal advocate groups. Whistler, who runs a Web site called superiorbreed.com, wrote on January 29, “I hope that every white patriot learned something from this.”

In the meantime, the wheels of justice turned slowly. On May 25, 2001, at the preliminary examination, Russian immigrant Alla Stevnin testified through an interpreter that she saw Lacy hit the cat three times, but the fence was blocking most of her view. Stevnin also wasn’t sure if she witnessed the beating from the kitchen or a bedroom. Originally, Stevnin told the police through an interpreter that she couldn’t describe the person that she saw by the fence because black people all look the same to her. In the preliminary examination, she clarified herself by saying that in Russia there aren’t many blacks or Africans and that she doesn’t have enough experience to distinguish them apart.

“Mr. Lacy has been demonized,” said attorney Clarence Brown who represents Lacy. “They are calling for him to be lynched; they are calling for him to be killed. This case has generated more paper which has been given to in discovery than murder cases that I’ve tried.”

Did James Lacy kill Max? Is he a cold-blooded cat killer or did he find an already dying Max and try to put him out of his misery? Did Max get hit by a car and crawl to the spot where he was found. Did someone else beat Max and Lacy had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

“Mr. Lacy,” said Brown, “was supposed to have hit the cat in the head with a golf club. No golf club. The necropsy makes that clear. Then he was supposed to have picked up a rock and hit the cat with the rock. No rock. Somehow the cat was damaged. It could have been an animal or it could have been something like a rake. Where they go with it at this point is pretty much up to them. They have some investigating to do. I can predict for myself how it will turn out and I smiled when I said that, but I will not make a prediction for your audience.”

Has the Internet, the most advanced form of mass communication that humans have come up with so far, turned into a modern lynching tool? For James Lacy, maybe it has.